The ongoing saga of air quality issues at Elkins Middle School, and the student illnesses which many parents believe they have caused, has been both a mysterious and upsetting experience for all involved.

Parents want answers and need to be able to trust that sending their kids to school won’t make them sick.

The school administrators and staff want answers as well, but to this point any answers as to what is causing the illnesses have been frustratingly few and slow in coming.

Dr. Shawn Dilly, the Randolph County superintendent of schools, released documentation Wednesday showing that six separate inspections of the school have taken place since Thursday, Oct. 24, the day that some students first began suffering symptoms and were treated at Davis Medical Center.

The school was closed down on Friday, Oct. 25 in response to the situation. The first inspections took place that day, and found nothing that would cause illness, Dilly said.

Elkins Middle School reopened for classes Monday, but once again students reported becoming sick and being treated at the hospital.

Dilly then said the school would shift to remote learning for the rest of this week, while further testing was conducted. Elkins Fire Chief Steve Himes told The Inter-Mountain Monday that his department had been at the school five different times at that point and had found nothing that would explain the illnesses.

The West Virginia Army National Guard’s 35th Civil Support Team came to inspect the school Tuesday. The team’s commander, Ryan Schwartz, wrote that they found “no elevated readings” or anything else that would indicate why students would become ill.

This is what we know so far, and officials are still scratching their heads, at a loss to explain what has happened at the school.

Elkins Middle School is set to reopen for classes on Monday, Nov. 4, but some parents are understandably wary about sending their children back into the school.

We respect and are grateful for the thoroughness of school officials — and the multiple inspection crews — and their willingness to work hard to get to the bottom of the situation. Still, questions remain.

On Tuesday, all county schools will be closed for Election Day. It’s worth noting that Randolph County has made the decision to break the tradition of using Elkins Middle School as a polling place on Tuesday.

Precincts 27 and 28, which normally vote at EMS, will instead cast ballots at the Phil Gainer Community Center.

County Clerk Brenda Wiseman told The Inter-Mountain the decision to change the polling place was made this week because “it wasn’t worth it” to take the chance of getting someone sick.

We agree with that decision. We are also concerned with students and staff returning to the school this coming Monday.

No explanation has yet been found for why students have been becoming ill. The county decided it wasn’t “worth it” to use the school as a polling place and risk people getting sick.

Is it “worth it” to reopen the school to children before any answers have been found?