Marblehead School To Reopen Tuesday After Gas Leak Evacuation

MARBLEHEAD, MA — A Marblehead elementary school that was evacuated Monday because of a Freon leak was set to reopen for a regular school day Tuesday after a deep cleaning overnight.

Paramedic Tyler Merullo reported on his emergency services social media account that a state HAZMAT was called to the address of the John and Lucretia Brown Elementary School on Baldwin Street early Monday afternoon for a "significant gas leak inside of an elementary school."

Marblehead police said that about noon police and fire units responded to a fire alarm at the school and identified a "release of Freon into the school that appeared to be the result of system maintenance being performed just prior to the alarm call."

Police said district administration and school staff helped evacuate all students, who were taken by bus to an alternate location. Police said parents were notified and there were no known injuries as of Monday afternoon.

"I want to commend our staff and students for how well today's incident was handled," Marblehead Superintendent John Buckey said in an update to families late Monday afternoon. "We had 'all hands on deck' and everyone worked together to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

"The collaboration among schools, Marblehead police and fire departments was exceptional."

Buckey said the HAZMAT team tested the media center where the leak originated and found "nothing toxic." He added that a cleaning company was hired to clean the media center Monday night, including wiping of every surface and washing carpets.

"The building is safe, and normal operations will resume in the morning," Buckey said.

Evening activities at the school on Monday were moved.

Tonight's Budget Workshop will be held in the Village School Auditorium. Given today's incident at The Brown School, we needed to change the location. It will begin at 5:30 in the Village School Auditorium.
— Marblehead Public School District (@MHDSchools) December 13, 2021

The reason for the release was being investigated.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)