District May Ban Explosive Experiments

Two severely burned Santa Clarita students will undergo surgery this morning, as school district administrators consider a ban on explosive science experiments like the one that injured them.

Garry Fuller, principal of William S. Hart High School, said Friday that he would address the students who witnessed the Wednesday accident when classes resume Monday, but it was unclear whether Thomas Magee, the teacher who was in charge of the experiment, will be at school.

“I’ve talked to Mr. Magee, and I think that’s up to him,” Fuller said.

Magee had taken his class to the football field, where they conducted a velocity experiment by firing tennis balls from two “cannons” made of apple juice cans and fueled by wood alcohol. Other students said that after several disappointing attempts to fire the tennis balls, some students began pouring more fuel into the juice cans. They may have poured more atop already burning alcohol.

Christopher James, 17, of Stevenson Ranch, west of Santa Clarita, was holding one cannon when it exploded, enveloping his face, neck, chest, shoulders and hands in a cloud of flaming liquid. His larynx and lungs were also scorched by toxic, superheated gas. He suffered second- and third-degree burns over 50% of his body.

Nolan Lemar, 17, who was standing next to Christopher holding the alcohol bottle, suffered severe burns over 12% of his body.

Both youths were awaiting surgery and skin grafts at the Grossman Burn Center at Sherman Oaks Hospital.

Students have said that the class of about 35 teenagers had separated into two groups and that the teacher, moving between them, was about 10 yards away at the time of the explosion.

“I took Mr. Magee down to the hospital [Thursday] afternoon to visit the boys,” Fuller said Friday. They found the boys’ families having a complete Thanksgiving dinner delivered to them at the hospital by other parents and teachers from Santa Clarita.

“Mr. Magee met Chris’ mother, Carolyn, and they talked,” Fuller said. “It was an emotional experience for Mr. Magee and for Carolyn; they embraced each other. . . . Carolyn was very kind and nice to Mr. Magee. They looked at each other and Mr. Magee said: ‘I am so sorry this happened.’

“ ‘We understand it was an accident,’ ” Fuller recalled the mother saying. “ ‘And how are you doing?’ ”

In an interview, Carolyn James said Friday that her son was conscious and alert--although he was unable to speak because of feeding and respiration tubes in his throat--and had begun looking around his hospital room.

“The doctor checked his corneas and said they were OK, thank God,” she said. Visibly weary, James said she was focused on the welfare of her son and was more curious about the accident than outraged.

“I have questions about what happened,” she said. “But I’m not emotional about it.”

School officials also have questions about the accident, although they do not plan to conduct a formal investigation until after they have received incident reports from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s and Fire departments.

Robert Lee, superintendent of the William S. Hart Unified High School District, said he had questions “as far as how the class was dealing with safety.”

“I want to know, what kind of safety precautions did the teacher have ahead of time,” Lee said.

Lee said the experiment has been a part of Hart’s physics curriculum for a number of years and may also be conducted at other district schools.

“That is something we’re going to look into on Monday,” Lee said.

Students, he said, “need to have the hands-on experience,” he said. “How much of this is a matter of sheer accident versus something that we need to modify? No one knows yet.”