Olathe School District becomes target of false Ebola rumor

From the moment Olathe School District patrons began seeing an Internet news story, its claims of an Ebola outbreak seemed outlandish.

None of it was true, district and state officials confirmed. The story — either fake or erroneous — had named a substitute teacher as having the disease and stated that multiple children in an Olathe elementary school were seriously ill.

There is no substitute teacher by that name, district spokeswoman Ann Kohn said. No children have taken ill.

The district sent a message in several formats to its patrons, saying, “This story is completely false. No cases of Ebola have been confirmed or even suspected in Olathe schools or in the city of Olathe.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Olathe School District becomes target of false Ebola rumor."