Unusual odor sends Heritage High students home

Heritage High School students and staff enjoyed a long weekend Friday when they were dismissed in the morning because of an unusual odor at the school.

Leigh Forrester, Lynchburg City Schools’ spokeswoman, likened the scent to sour milk and said the source was unknown as of Friday afternoon.

She said maintenance crews worked all day searching the building, but were unable to identify the source of the odor that continued to linger.

“They’ll be working all weekend to figure it out,” she said.

Students and staff were dismissed at 10 a.m. and a ConnectED call was placed to parents to alert them to the situation. All students returned home safely, Forrester said.

As maintenance personnel searched the building Friday, an independent company was also called in to test air quality.

Forrester also said there was a problem with a smell earlier in the week on Tuesday or Wednesday, but officials thought the issue was resolved.

Division officials hope to have school as usual Monday but couldn’t not say definitively whether school would open as scheduled. They plan to stay in touch with parents throughout the weekend via ConnectED, the school division’s automated phone message system.