KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kasi Darnell-Tibbs' son is a first grader at Longfellow Elementary in the Kansas City Public Schools district.
A day after a carbon monoxide leak at the school, she shared a picture of her 6-year-old son Morgan in the emergency room with an oxygen mask and a thumbs up.
On Wednesday, she took him to the hospital after picking her son up from the evacuation school.
“The unthinkable could have happened, and it was a really close call,” Darnell-Tibbs said. “They put him on oxygen for two hours."
Darnell-Tibbs said her son is feeling much better.
“It seems like people are downplaying this it a little bit, that only six kids went to the hospital,” she said. “That’s wrong because I think more kids should have been seen, and it was a big deal than what’s it's being made to be."
Darnell-Tibbs described her son's experience at the hospital.
“They tested his blood levels, he had carbon monoxide in his blood,” she said. “High levels read at heavy smokers from 5 to 10%, we are a nonsmoking family and he should not have any carbon monoxide in his blood at all.”
Darnell-Tibbs said she’s concerned about the school district's communication, from the time of the initial emergency and follow-up check-ins with medical information.
“We were told that he was fine, but if we hadn’t brought him he might still be sick now,” she said.
KSHB 41 asked KCPS if it's aware of other kids being taken to the hospital after the fact. This story will be updated if a response is received.
On Thursday, the district said students would return to the school on Friday. Classes resume inside the building at 8:20 a.m.
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