Five kids from UA elementary school hospitalized after eating ‘non-school food’

UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) -- Five students at an Upper Arlington elementary school were taken to the hospital Friday after eating a "non-school food" item at lunch.

A message from Upper Arlington Schools Superintendent Paul Imhoff to parents said the children at Windmere Elementary School became ill after sharing the “non-school food” item during lunch.

The scare happened just after 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

All five were taken by ambulance to Nationwide Children's Hospital and all of their families were notified immediately. The school has not released the ages of the children.

Sgt. Bryan McKean with the Upper Arlington Police Division said the school district also sent out a letter to every family in its area alerting them of the situation.

“Some parents elected to come and pick up their children and that’s fine,” McKean said. “Then other parents -- once we got our communication out that it wasn’t as serious as it sounds -- they elected to keep their kids at school.”

Supt. Imhoff said staff held a meeting after school to figure out how to talk with the children about it next week.

“We are preparing a communication with parents for the weekend so our parents have some links to some resources to help their kids deal with this,” Imhoff said.

“And then we are going to be ready to talk about this Monday with our kids as they come back. Because the kids are going to need time to process this.”