Three days into the school year, Montezuma-Cortez High School was briefly evacuated after a gas odor was detected Wednesday at 10:32 a.m.
The district emailed parents at 10:38 a.m., informing them that Principal Jennifer Boniface had evacuated students and the Cortez Fire Protection District was en route.
They asked that parents not come to the school.
Students and staff returned to the building at 10:45 a.m. after first responders determined the odor came from a septic sink backup in the school’s culinary class.
Students and staff were then permitted to return inside the building.
The alert was sent out by the district at 10:49 a.m., but the wrong email line was mistakenly selected, causing the alert to reach parents and guardians hours later at 9:43 p.m.
Though the district alert came late, MCHS Principal Jennifer Boniface sent out an email after school resumed to let parents and guardians know that the odor was not gas and all students were safe, accounted for and that business would resume as normal.
