Alaska kids served floor sealant instead of milk at daycare

The parents were floored.

An Alaska daycare operation served floor sealant to 12 children instead of milk.

The kids in Juneau noticed the problem when they tasted the “milk” on Tuesday and it burned their throats, local public radio station KTOO reported. The children were actually drinking Hillyard Seal 341 floor sealant.

One of the students at Glacier Valley Elementary School was taken to a nearby hospital, the Juneau School District said in a statement. Two other children “may have gone to seek medical advice” after they were picked up by parents.

The daycare program for children ages 5 to 12 was managed by a state-licensed outside contractor called RALLY, according to the district. Supervisors called in poison control to monitor the kids and guide them through the process.

Superintendent Bridget Weiss said the milk and floor sealant are both supplied to the school in large, plastic bags stored in cardboard boxes. She said both liquids, which are stored off-site, ended up on the same pallet.

“We don’t know how that happened, but they were all put on the same pallet,” Weiss said. “That pallet was delivered, and the assumption was that it was milk because that’s what we thought was being delivered.”

Juneau police are investigating the snafu. Weiss said the cops were called in “not really because we believe there’s anything criminal…at this point, but we do want a thorough investigation of what happened, how it happened, and they’re trained investigators.”

The daycare program went on as scheduled Wednesday.

With News Wire Services