The first students to leave were released about 3:30 p.m., red ribbons on arms to show they had been screened. Each was given a sandwich and a piece of fruit in a brown bag because they had missed lunch.
Principal Reginald Ballard Jr. sent a note home to parents in English and Spanish to explain what had happened and to inform them that classes would be canceled today.
Students emerge from Cardozo after being screened for contact with mercury. It took hours to screen the hundreds of students and teachers, and some were found to have traces of mercury on their clothing.
(Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
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"I am tired," Ballard told a 10 p.m. news conference. "We will not open back up until the school is clean."
Parents and students said they were upset and alarmed.
"I really think it's crazy -- it's Looney Tunes," said Yolaine White, 49, who has three daughters at the school, all of whom have asthma. She rushed to the campus after hearing about the incident on television.
"Something has to be done," she added. "I'm very concerned for all the kids who are in there."
Jesse Mingo picked up his 15-year-old daughter at the school about 7:30 p.m. He said he did not plan to let her return until officials "figure out what is going on."
"This is two weeks in a row," Mingo said. "I don't think it's safe for her to be in here."
Darrin Hickson, 17, an 11th-grader who was released about 4 p.m., said he would rather have stayed at home than be locked in a classroom all day.
"This took away from my education time," Hickson said. "It makes you frustrated. I was hungry."
According to police, the 16-year-old charged in last week's incident said he got the mercury from the school science lab. School officials had thought all mercury was removed from high schools after a 2003 spill at Ballou Senior High. The youth's claim is being investigated.
Students said those responsible needed to get a stern message.
"They deserve to get in trouble," Hickson said. "Otherwise, they will keep doing it."
Staff writers V. Dion Haynes and Martin Weil contributed to this report.
