SARASOTA COUNTY -- The smell from five moldy oranges was so bad that it sent two Oak Park School teachers to the hospital this week and forced the school to close off its speech therapy area, district officials say.

"This fruit was really moldy and if you were allergic to mold you would probably get sick," said Jody Dumas, director of facilities for the school district.

It's been that kind of week at Oak Park, where students and teachers were also under a 48-hour advisory not to drink tap water because of a water main break.

Dumas said the two incidents are unrelated, and the advisory was issued as a standard procedure.

Rumors circulated that the offending odor had something to do with a new air conditioning system installed at Oak Park. The school serves students with disabilities age 3 to 22.

Dumas said the oranges had apparently slipped between a table and a refrigerator and sat there for who knows how long.

Starting Tuesday, staff members complained of getting headaches and feeling sick because of the strange smell emanating from the speech therapy classrooms, district spokeswoman Shelia Weiss said.

On Tuesday, two teachers were sent to the hospital. Custodians and the fire department went to the school to investigate the odor, but couldn't find anything. Dumas said the Sarasota County Health Department conducted air quality tests Wednesday and determined that the odor wasn't toxic, and was likely caused by the oranges.

The teachers were treated at the hospital and then released, Weiss said.
 

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