State officials are investigating several flutes that were distributed to some students in at least three Orange County school districts as part of a music program. Authorities say the instruments may have contained bodily fluids.

In emails sent to parents of students Friday afternoon, Sept. 29, district officials notified them there was an investigation regarding flutes given to students — as young as elementary-school age — by an individual who is also being investigated.

The flutes were made of PVC plastic piping and a single wine cork and had an exterior that could be decorated, district officials said. The individual, who was not identified, is an independent contractor. The individual wasn’t an employee of the affected Orange County districts and worked at multiple schools districts in Southern California.

“We were informed that an independent contractor who provided a music enrichment program to the fifth-grade classes at Courreges Elementary School, in June 2017, gave the students flutes/recorders that were potentially contaminated with bodily fluids,” said Mark Johnson, superintendent of the Fountain Valley School District, in an email.

Johnson said in the email that the flutes possibly went to children who participated in the Flutes Across the World Program. He continued that Courreges Elementary School was the only site in the district that may have been affected.

The California Department of Justice is investigating the suspect, as is the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, though it was immediately unclear why.

Similar messages went to families in the Capistrano Unified School District and Newport Mesa Unified School District.

“We are still working to determine which specific schools,” Capistrano district spokesperson Ryan Burris said in an email. “With the number of schools in our district, this will take some time and we did not want to delay our communication to parents.”

Newport Mesa officials said the flutes may have been given to some students at Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa, through a contracted vendor that provides music programs.

“Our initial research indicates that the impact to NMUSD is limited to four classrooms at Sonora Elementary School. No other NMUSD schools are believed to be impacted,” the email states.

Some of the districts asked that families who find these flutes take them from the child’s possession and place them in a sealed paper bag to possibly preserve evidence.

Representatives for the state Office of the Attorney General said: “As part of the investigation, we are working with local law enforcement and school districts to collect instruments, for the California Department of Justice to process.”

Fountain Valley police Sgt. Kham Vang confirmed that the department was collecting the flutes at its station at 10200 Slater Avenue.

Capistrano district officials were still working with law enforcement to determine how to collect the instruments, which are considered by the district to be “inappropriate and unsanitary” for a child to have contact with.

“We understand this is deeply upsetting to our families and that you may be seeking more details than we can provide,” Burris said.