Anxious parents crowd the entrance to Brown Middle School where students were brought after being evacuated from Finch Elementary School in Atlanta Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Officials say at least 31 people were taken to hospitals after apparently being overcome by carbon monoxide at Finch Elementary School in Southwest Atlanta. Firefighters responding shortly after school began detected high and unsafe levels of carbon monoxide near a furnace at the school, said Atlanta fire Capt. Marian McDaniel. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution,Bob Andres)
Atlanta school officials are discussing whether to install carbon monoxide alarms after a leak sent 42 students and seven adults to the hospital Monday and forced the evacuation of 500 students. The gas was found at potentially unsafe levels near a furnace.
Atlanta schools spokesman Stephen Alford said discussions about installing alarms are under way. The alarms are not legally required in Georgia.
Two states, Maryland and Connecticut, have passed laws requiring them in schools.
A report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency advised that schools install them. An environmental health expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures called the installation of alarms a "no-brainer."
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