STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (WXYZ) — An Earth Day activity at Margaret Black Elementary School in Sterling Heights went south after two students were pricked with needles while sifting through recycled plastic.
The activity is a commonplace for the school, which is designated as a Michigan Green School.
The Warren Consolidated Schools district has since canceled recycling drop-off at the school and related activities indefinitely.
One of the students pricked, Skylar Vasquez, will now have to get her blood tested every three months for a year.
"I am nervous," said Skylar, a first grader at Margaret elementary, about the blood tests.
According to her mom, this happened on Monday at a school-sanctioned event.
"We were told that we were going to sort bottle caps, but there were other pieces in there and the people never told us that," Skylar said.
Those other pieces Skylar is referring to are called lancets. Diabetics use them to draw blood and test their glucose levels.
The school district says students were sorting through recycled bottle caps and unfortunately, used lancets were mixed in.
"I didn't receive a permission slip for this. I wasn't aware this was happening today. I said, 'Were there any safety precautions,'" Skylar's mom Carla Vasquez said.
Vasquez doesn't understand why her 7-year-old wasn't given protective gloves or a mask.
In a letter to parents, Superintendent Robert Livernois said an investigation revealed that someone likely had donated several of these lancet caps and must have inadvertently included them in the collection boxes.
"I, firsthand, know why needles end up in the garbage; I am in longtime recovery myself. I have a blood disorder, myself, and I am willing to admit that openly. I am not ashamed of that," Carla Vasquez said.
Carla Vasquez says she worked hard to protect Skylar from that sort of life.
The good news is, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99.7% of needle or cut exposures does not result in infection.
Carla Vasquez was told the needle was sent out for testing.
"Who plans on following up? Who plans on communicating with me?" Carla Vasquez said.
She wants to know who authorized the activity and why no adult looked through the recycling before they let school children dig in.
"She will not go back to that school next year," Carla Vasquez said.
The superintendent told 7 Action News that the district is willing to help pay for medical expenses, though Carla Vasquez said the school did not tell her that.
She says she has retained legal counsel.
According to the district, Skylar was immediately assessed by the school nurse when she was pricked and all sorting was stopped.
Her mother feels like parents should have been notified immediately, and she is not satisfied with the school's response thus far.
Carla Vasquez did say the nurse was very empathetic and in an email, an administrator called the situation an "epic failure" on the school's part.
