Stonington — When a student who complained he could not breathe while wearing a KN95 mask collapsed during a virtual concert at Stonington Middle School on Wednesday morning, a veteran Mystic Middle School teacher made no effort to approach him or summon the school nurse.

Ellen Gilbert, the longtime director of the school's award-winning choral program, had the eighth grade boy sit on the ground for more than 7½ minutes, asking at one point if he was OK. Later, she told other students to block him from view so they could continue with the concert. The boy later returned to the classroom.

Gilbert's actions can be seen in a video of the concert.

At Thursday night's Board of Education meeting, in which the board voted unanimously to end the school mask mandate on Feb. 28, the boy's mother, who said she is a reading teacher in the Westerly school system, emotionally addressed board members. 

"I'm still in shock about the way my son was treated. The lack of compassion or care is appalling," Lisa Hoagland said as some in the crowd expressed disbelief about the incident.

Gilbert, who school officials said was not at the middle school Friday, explained her actions Friday night and said she expects to return to school on Tuesday.

She said the boy did not pass out but became dizzy and needed to sit down, something that often happens among choral singers. "This does happen. People not in the field may not be aware of it but lightheadedness can happen and students need to sit down on the riser," she said.

Gilbert said that after the concert she told the boy he should go to the nurse's office but he told her he was OK and did not need to go.

She acknowledged that she should have sent him to the nurse at that point.

"That's on me," she said.

School Principal Timothy Smith said Friday that "clearly mistakes were made" with the incident but could not comment further because it is a matter involving both personnel and student confidentiality.

Smith said the school is taking steps to address not only the incident but again make staff aware of what the proper steps are when a student becomes ill. He said he also has met twice with the student's parents.

Both Smith and Superintendent of Schools Van Riley said in such situations the child should be sent to the school nurse and examined. Smith said staff members were aware of this procedure.

Riley said by email, "We are taking this situation seriously and are addressing the concerns" but added he could not comment further because it involves a personnel issue.    

School board Chairman Farouk Rajab said Friday the incident is being investigated but said he could not comment because if disciplinary action is taken against Gilbert and she appeals, the board would make the final decision on whether to uphold the punishment. Commenting now could prejudice the board's decision.  

Incident chronicled by video 

The video of the concert, which took place in the late morning, shows that at 31 minutes and 45 seconds into the video of the performance the boy becomes unsteady on his feet and is helped to sit by students next to him. At least one other adult, a woman playing the piano, was in the gym at the time.

While Gilbert's comments are muffled in the video, she is heard to say just sit down.

"He's a little lightheaded, he's OK," she added.

She tells a paraprofessional to get the boy some water but does not approach the boy, who is about 20 feet away. About a minute later Gilbert asks, "You feel OK?" She then tells a story about students who collapse at music festivals. 

Almost two minutes after the boy collapsed and remains sitting, Gilbert tells him, "You stay there. We're going to go ahead and start."

Twenty seconds later the paraprofessional returns with the cup of water and hands it to the boy, who appears to be coughing.

"He's fine, just give him a little space," Gilbert tells the other students. She instructs other students to block him from view. Then, about 4½ minutes after the boy sat down, she has the chorus begin singing its final song.

When they finish the song about 3½ minutes later, she moves toward the students in the front row to the right but does not approach the boy who is still sitting down. With the concert done, the boy gets up. As the students leave the gym, Gilbert can be seen speaking with the boy for five seconds before he walks out of the gym while adjusting his tie.

On Friday, Gilbert said she followed health guidelines for people who are experiencing dizziness by having them sit down, catch their breath and get them some water.

Gilbert also explained she had the other singers shield the boy because she wanted to offer him some privacy as the concert continued.         

Mother's comments to school board 

Hoagland told the board that she initially had prepared a different speech to make about the mask mandate but had to change it to discuss the incident with her son.

She said was not able to watch the 11 a.m. concert because she was teaching but later received a message from a friend who asked how her son was doing. Hoagland was unaware of any problem but the friend said her son had passed out during the concert.

"I was shocked because no one had called me from the school," she said.

Hoagland said all the students had been told they had to wear black KN95 masks because Gilbert wanted them to all look the same. She said when her son asked to wear his usual mask because he could not breathe in the KN95, he was told no.

Gilbert said she ordered black KN95 masks for the students to create a uniformity in their appearance. She said the choral students  also said the masks allowed their voices to be heard the best.

Gilbert said she did not recall the boy asking not to wear the mask. She did say that if students expressed concerns about the masks, she likely would have said "give it a try." In this case, she said, no student expressed any further concern about the masks. 

Hoagland said she later watched the video of the performance as her son kept pulling his mask down to breathe and then collapsed as the students around him helped him sit down on the riser.

"What happened next was appalling. The teacher never even came over to check on him," she told the board, adding that no one called the nurse or 911. "She asked a para to get him some water and said this happens all the time. She then began telling stories and making light of the situation still not checking on him."

"Then she told the kids to block my son from the camera so he wasn't on the video," Hoagland said. "She continued the concert for 10 more minutes not having eyes on him. She had no idea about what his condition is medically."

Afterward she said her son walked back to class, the nurse was never informed and no one checked on him the rest of the day. She said at her school in Westerly, she would have called the nurse and 911. 

"Now I have zero confidence in the ability of the middle school to keep my boys safe," she said. "It's a horrible feeling to know you're leaving your children in the care of people who don't even care about them."

j.wojtas@theday.com