.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Kerri Mascareno, 39, said she is no longer allowed at her daughter’s Albuquerque elementary school, because her body odor is making staff ill.

Mascareno has Stage Four breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy treatment, which she says creates a strong odor. Mascareno is the mother of a third-grader at Tierra Antigua Elementary near Ventana Ranch, and she contends that principal Robert Abney asked her not to come inside the school anymore because she smells.

She said the conversation with Abney took place last week on a bench in front of the school.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

“I told him ‘I can’t do anything about it,’ ” she said. “It’s my cancer, and I have to take a lot of pills.”

Albuquerque Public Schools spokesman Rigo Chavez said he did not believe Mascareno was told not to come inside the school.

“As far as I know, she was not told she couldn’t be at the school,” Chavez said. “There were complaints around the school from staff, but that’s all I’m going to say.”

He also said Abney would not speak to the media directly.

Mascareno said the principal told her that staff had complained and that the smell caused one staff member to vomit.

“He told me, ‘I know this will hurt your feelings, but I can’t allow you to be come to the school anymore,’ ” she said. “I asked him why, and he said my cancer had a strong smell and it was so bad it was making his staff ill.”

To make matters worse, Mascareño said she was initially told she could come to the school for Thanksgiving lunch on Tuesday, but that she would have to eat in the principal’s office. Chavez said that was true, but that, once Abney learned she was upset, he changed his mind and invited her to eat in the cafeteria. She declined.

“That is correct that he asked me to go (to the lunch), but I’m very hurt at what has been said to me,” she said. “I think he’s gone too far and crossed some boundaries.”

Mascareño’s brother Robert Krzeski, who lives in Los Angeles, said he also spoke with Abney over the phone and the principal told him the same things he told Mascareño.

“He said ‘Yes. It’s true. I told her she could not go into the school anymore,’ ” he said. “He said she was allowed to run in and out really quick, but that she was making people in the front office sick.”