MARINA, Calif. - Frustrated parents at a Central Coast school want to know how their children got sick! More than 100 students were sent home Thursday after they started throwing up in class.
To say Los Arboles Middle School student Paradise Williams had a rough morning is an understatement.
"It didn't feel good, it didn't feel good at all," says Williams.
The sixth grader was in math class Thursday morning when she felt dizzy, got cramps and started throwing up. The school got so many other students with the same symptoms, it set up a makeshift clinic with nurses in the school's gym. When Paradise rushed there, 30 other students were already there.
"At the time it was bad," says Williams. "Everyone was around trash cans throwing up holding their stomachs, crying, throwing up, drinking water, throwing up the water."
By the afternoon, that number grew to 110 students. The Monterey County Health Department is investigating what caused the stomach flu. But, several students including Paradise suspect bad rice was served for breakfast at the nearby teen center. That angers Paradise's mother.
"Are they looking on the dates of their food? Are they taking inventory on the dates? I don't want this to happen again," says Williams.
But, the school district isn't confirming that and called today's sickness "rare."
As for Paradise, she's feeling better now but she's upset she's missing school and thinks she will stick to cereal from now on.
"It never happened to me before," says Williams.
The school sent a letter home to every student about this health alert. While school will be open to most students, those children who got sick are told to stay home until Monday to recover.
The school canceled several after school activities because of this case of stomach flu.
