|
SMH Note: The cause of mold is dampness, not musical instruments. We think this superintendent is trying to avoid admitting that Westport Schools are poorly maintained.
Musical instruments in classroom found cause of mold
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19185285&BRD=1654&PAG=461&dept_id=12915&rfi=6
By:Meg Learson Grosso, Staff Writer01/10/2008
Email to a friendPost a CommentPrinter-friendly
A rare kind of mold was found on the musical instruments stored in the southern of the two King's Highway Elementary School portable classrooms, according to Schools Supt. Dr. Elliott Landon, who announced this finding at a meeting of the Board of Education on Monday evening at Staples High School.
The classrooms have since been cleaned by the building maintenance staff and "the cleaning effort was very effective," according to a report from Robert C. Brown of Hygenix, an environmental consulting firm in Stamford.
On Monday, Landon announced that the classrooms would be reopened for both teachers and children this week.
At the meeting, Landon quoted from both a Dec. 14 and a Jan. 7 report, sent to him from Brown of Hygenix. The superintendent's office also made the reports available to the Minuteman. The December report said that a markedly elevated quantity of a mold, called Eurotium amstelodami, a type of Aspergillus, was found in the air sample from the south classroom.
The "preponderance" of this mold was found on musical folk instruments and a smaller amount of the mold was found on books and papers, according to the report. None was detected on the upper surface of the ceiling tiles, however, these had been replaced shortly before the testing by Hygenix.
The report said that this particular mold can grow on objects that are low in moisture and "is very common in stored seeds, textiles, leather, and materials coated with resins and lacquers."
The December report also said that the mold was at a level "that might represent a problem for individuals who suffer with allergies to this mold."
Subsequent to that December report, the classroom was thoroughly cleaned and retested. A January report by Hygenix said that the mold was reduced to "levels that currently present no risk to occupants of the south portable classroom."
A high level of the mold was found in the dust on the floor of the north classroom, according to the December report, which also noted that the test results were "not consistent with the air sample results in the north portable and may need to be rechecked. In the interim, we recommend that the floors of the north portable be HEPA vacuum-cleaned and washed."
The January letter made no mention of further testing results for the north portable, only the south portable.
The January report said that materials that support mold growth and cannot be cleaned "should be removed and made inaccessible or discarded." The report categorized these materials as "gourds, seed pods, dried cacti, other rawhide, leather and animal skins." Landon said the animal skins were the type that might be found on some drums. The report further recommended that these objects be stored for the summer in an environment where the humidity could be tightly controlled.
Both portables are used for music classes and had been closed for months after the beginning of school, while music classes were held elsewhere. The portables were then reopened in November. They were retested two days after their reopening by the air quality expert hired by the town, Gil Cormier, of Occupational Risk Control Services in New Britain.
When Cormier got results from a lab a few days later, he found a high level of mold in the south portable. He called the central school office from Hawaii, where he had gone on a previously-planned vacation, and said the classroom should be closed and further testing done to determine the source of the mold. As he was on vacation, he recommended that the town hire someone else to do the testing.
Apparently the school office did hire someone immediately, because Brown of Hygenix did his initial investigation on Dec. 3, soon after Nancy Harris, Assistant Superintendent for Business, got a phone call from Cormier. Hygenix did follow-up testing on Dec. 4 and 8, according to the letter from Brown.
At Landon's request, some of the sampling was done by PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a method that identifies mold on the basis of DNA fingerprinting. This is a faster, although more expensive, method of getting results.
©Westport Minuteman 2008 |
