The Massapequa School District is in the process of repairing the lighting in the Fairfield Elementary School gymnasium, after a hazardous bulb that was scheduled to be replaced exploded during a school play in March, injuring several students.

Some Fairfield parents are up in arms over the incident, and called for quicker action to remedy the situation during school board meetings last month. They also criticized the district's building department for not preventing the incident by replacing the bulbs immediately after they were found to explode a year ago. According to Fairfield PTA President Cathy Scherer, who witnessed the incident along with other parents and teachers who were at the assembly program, the raining glass caused minor injuries to over 20 students.

"We were having an assembly program in the gymnasium and one of the light bulbs exploded, and showered down on the children beneath it. Several children were hurt," said Scherer. "Everyone was quite a bit upset about it. I mean, this is not a normal occurrence that we want happening to our children."

The district is currently mandating that the lamps be kept off as they continue the process of installing new bulbs and repairing the lighting fixtures. Massapequa Schools Superintendent James Brucia said last week that the district is very regretful about the incident, and is working to get the lighting repaired.

"Apparently the heat generated by those bulbs was too great for the container, and one of the bulbs exploded. Unfortunately, there was a program going on, and some of the glass came down and rained down on some of the youngsters there. So we immediately shut the thing down. We did order new ­ and, in fact we had on order new bulbs [at the time of the incident], that hadn't arrived yet. I don't know why the lights were even turned on, but they shouldn't have been," Brucia said. "Now we have them shut off completely. We're in the process of re-installing new bulbs and re-doing some of the other stuff on there to avoid that in the future."

Susanna Williams, principal of the school, confirmed that over 20 children sustained minor injuries, such as light burning sensations and minor cuts, during the incident. She said that the district will finish taking down the old lighting by the end of the week, that the order for the new fixtures has been confirmed, and that delivery and installation are expected shortly.

"I think the district has been very pro-active in regards to remedying the situation right now," Williams added.

Meanwhile, according to Scherer, parents fear the new lighting will not be in place in time for the Sixth-Grade Gym Show, which is scheduled for May 19. The gym cannot be used during the evening, when lights are needed, so the program is currently expected to be held during the day. This, Scherer noted, is a detriment to the children because most parents work during the day, and therefore will not be able to attend.

In response to parents' frustration about the delay in getting new lights after the bulbs were first found to explode a year ago, Brucia noted that the confusion was caused by a lapse in communication.

"The mix-up was that the lights were ordered, and for some reason, the company did not follow through on the order, and the building people did not follow through on why the thing did not come in, and it just sat for a while. And, unfortunately, this thing happened," he said.

"The parents were upset, rightfully so, because the bulbs exploded. That shouldn't happen. And, we agreed ­ that shouldn't happen. And, when you try to explain these things, it's difficult, because what happened, happened, and there's nothing you can do to change it. And, unfortunately, the lights shouldn't have been turned on, and we should have made sure that the bulbs got in sooner than they did. So, now we're aggressively making sure we get it done."

Both Brucia and Scherer believe it was an isolated incident.

"The school is a safe building, and once in a while these unfortunate things happen. You try to do what you can to prevent them from happening, and occasionally they do, and it's unfortunate when they do, and we're just thankful that no one was seriously hurt," commented Brucia.

Said Scherer, "I would certainly hope this is definitely not something that usually happens, and I can't say I've heard of things such as this happening. We've got a great school district here, a very terrific administration and teachers, and I just think that this was something that got overlooked. But once it was brought to their attention, it should have been handled immediately."

To prevent incidents like these from happening again, the superintendent noted, the district is increasing wiring inspections in all the schools in the district, in order to ensure that all lighting is safe.