For the first time, members of the Manatee County Commission and the Manatee County School Board sat it in the same room and examined claims of a cancer cluster at the old Bayshore High School.

For more than a decade, alumni of the old Bayshore High School have been looking for answers after hundreds of graduates have become sick with various forms of cancer.

The old high school is long gone, but many believe the illnesses are linked to contaminated water in the wells on the grounds or in the soil.

At Thursday's meeting, health officials were hesitant to call these illnesses a cancer cluster, stating that there's no compilation of medical records to prove it. Groups of alumni have compiled their own records stating which graduates fell ill with which types of cancer, but there hasn't been any research done into the claims by health officials.

"We need specific information on those individuals and we don't have that right now," said Dr. Jennifer Bencie.

Bencie went on to say that the county needs to start with the affected alumni's medical records and then search for a cause, not the other way around.

But, many of the alumni still speculate that their illnesses were caused by contamination on the grounds.

"I don't know how they expect all of these people to turn over their private medical records, when we can't even get answers as to where we got our drinking water from," said Cheryl Jozsa, who lost her sister to cancer.

While they don't know how it will be feasible, the school board and county agreed the next step is to work on compiling medical records for the affected alumni. The school board also agreed to take a look at old test results from the property.