Ceniza Hills Elementary evacuated after foul odor, students reunified at civic center

A foul odor at Ceniza Hills Elementary sent students and staff out of the building Thursday afternoon and turned a routine school day into an emergency reunification at the Del Rio Civic Center. San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District said the campus was evacuated after school and district leaders raised concerns about the smell, with no injuries reported.

Officers from the SFDRCISD Police Department, Del Rio Police Department and Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office worked together to move students and employees and keep the pickup process organized. Parents were directed to the civic center, where they were told to bring a driver’s license or other proper identification before taking their children home. The district also said bus routes from Ceniza Hills would continue as scheduled.

Later Thursday, district officials said contractors and staff were working to correct an air-conditioning problem that appeared to be the source of the strong odor. SFDRCISD said it planned to make a final decision by 8 p.m. Thursday on whether classes would resume normally Friday, May 22, 2026. The temporary move to the civic center gave families a place to regroup, but it also showed how quickly an unknown building issue can become a countywide logistics problem.

Superintendent Dr. Carlos H. Rios said the evacuation and reunification at another location was the first such event in his 13 years in the job. That made Thursday’s response a real-time test of the district’s emergency plans, from the first evacuation call to the final handoff of students back to parents. It also highlighted how much the district relied on cooperation from local law enforcement and county agencies to keep the process moving safely.

The episode came only months after another major police response at Ceniza Hills Elementary on January 7, 2026, when Del Rio police responded to an outcry of physical abuse involving a student that later led to an arrest and emergency placements for six children. Together, the two incidents underscore how often the campus has already been pulled into crisis this school year, and why parents are likely to want a clearer account of what caused Thursday’s odor, how the building was cleared, and what changes will be made to prevent a repeat.