School board members and parents listened to the painful screams of a little girl in their school district diagnosed with an E. coli infection.

Six-year-old Sydney fell ill last Wednesday, and though she was diagnosed quickly, has not found relief from the painful cramps and bloody diarrhea the infection has caused.  In fact, she may soon be put on dialysis and her platelet count is still low.

Sydney’s mother, Marcia Jacobi, sent a letter with a neighbor to the New Albany/Floyd County School Board meeting on Monday describing her heart-wrenching experience as she continued to sit by Sydney’s bedside at Kosair Children’s Hospital.

The infection is thought to be caused by a meal at Galena Elementary School, where five other children have fallen ill from the same deadly bacteria.

The Assistant Superintendent, Bill Briscoe, is wary to admit that the bacteria was contracted at the school, or if all six students (and another suspected two) may have gotten the bug from another source.

Sydney’s mother, of course, is not at all satisfied with the school district’s reaction. "She is sincerely  appalled by the way this has been handled," reads her neighbor on Jacobi’s behalf, "Parents of both healthy and ill children feel this has been dramatically downplayed."