Rocky River High School closed to clean up mercury spill

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio (WOIO) - Rocky River High School will be closed Thursday due to a mercury spill that happened in a chemistry class Wednesday afternoon.

According to an email to families and staff, around 3:05 p.m., a vial of mercury estimated at 0.2 to 0.5 mL was dropped and broke on a table.

No students came into contact with the mercury. One student was in closer proximity to the spill, and that student’s family has been contacted directly.

Following the incident, the District contacted the U.S. EPA and EnviroServe for guidance and response.

EnviroServe will be on site at 7:00 a.m. to clean the classroom. The cleanup process will require several measures within the building, including shutting down the HVAC system. EnviroServe has advised us that this work will disrupt normal school operations. As a result, Rocky River High School will be closed to students and staff tomorrow to allow the cleanup to be completed safely and without interruption.