Mt. Hope High School was evacuated this afternoon due to a high reading of carbon monoxide in the cafeteria kitchen. Interim principal Michelle King sent the following email to the school community:

"Out of an abundance of caution, we had to conduct an evacuation of Mt Hope HS due to an elevated level of carbon monoxide in the rear, kitchen area of our Cafeteria.

Students, faculty and staff were evacuated safely and have reported to the football field.

We have all available buses coming now to dismiss students to those assigned buses. Walkers will be dismissed from the football field."

Superintendent Ana Riley said on Monday afternoon that the cause of the carbon monoxide exposure came from a faulty vent hood in the kitchen area, which sickened one worker from the school's contracted food vendor, Chartwells, and caused symptoms in other Chartwells employees.

It was too early to say when the hood would be fixed, but Riley said that food preparation would be shifted from Mt. Hope to Kickemuit Middle School.

"My worry is the timeline on ordering things if we need parts or a hood, but we can cook out of the middle school, so we’re just just not going to cook out of the high school until it’s repaired," she said. "We’ve got everything we need to cook at the middle school kitchen."