Ten Riverside Students Fall Ill From Heat Exhaustion

Six Riverside Elementary School students were taken to an area hospital on Thursday afternoon and treated for heat exhaustion after feeling ill while practicing for tonight's spring concert in the school's gym, school officials said.

The gym does not have air-conditioning, and school officials said the temperature in the gym was in the mid-80s.

According to Board of Education President Liz Dion, the entire school — about 160 kids — were in the gym rehearsing for the concert. Around 60 fourth and fifth graders were on "risers" or on stage, singing and dancing when ten of them became sick.

Dion said the children were immediately taken to the library, which is air-conditioned. Five students and one teacher were taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital and were discharged later in the day, she said. One student was taken to Mercy Medical Center, but Dion did not have an update on that student. 

Four other students were also treated for heat exhaustion, but were not taken to the hospital.

Temperatures hit as high as 100 degrees in the village today. The spring concert has been cancelled and a makeup date has not been determined.