"One study of an elementary school showed that if $8,140 had been spent over 22 years on preventive maintenance, $1.5 million in repairs could have been avoided. In addition, poor indoor air quality can contribute to the closing of schools, create liability problems, and strain relationships among parents, teachers, and the school administration." (Minnesota Dept. of Health)
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Aramark janitors describe mold cleanup problems
In front of a State of Illinois House Committee on Education, employees of Aramark describe conditions that concerned state legislators, including their reports about the use of strong chemicals and the cleanup of mold without proper training or safety equipment, that they say impacted their health (March, 2008)(SMH).
This 2 hour podcast is presented, along with background articles from the media, including a video of a school district meeting where some of the same presenters, herein, provided testimony.
March 27, 2008
11:00 a.m.
State of Illinois Building, Chicago
Governor's Floor House Committee on Elementary and Primary Education or House Committee on Education
(click URL to hear podcast, audio archive of meeting, then click Download, to listen. Use the slider bar to advance the audio, as you wish. The portion related to school mold and May Whitney Elementary begins approx. 1/4 - 1/3 of the way into the presentation, you may use the sliderbar to advance to that section. The first section involves disturbing presentations on inadequate food supplies. )
At the request of the Service Employees International Union, the Illinois House Committee on Education met today to discuss problems with food and janitorial services provided by Aramark Corporation in Chicago area schools.
(SMH note: you may leave a comment by going to the URL above).
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On Thursday, March 27, 2007, at the request of Service Employees International Union, the Illinois House Committee on Education, met to hear testimony from school food-service workers, janitors and parents to shed light on problems occurring in some school districts served by Aramark Corporation in the Chicago area.
During this broadcast, you will hear testimony from several food-service workers regarding issues of allegedly inadequate food supplies and inadequate number of workers.
Additionally, you will hear testimony of janitors who have allegedly had to deal with cleaning up mold without proper safety equipment or training. You will hear testimony from those janitors that they were coughing and having difficulty breathing during this cleanup. You will hear from a parent, who, upon bringing concerns to the attention of community members, was banned from the building by the district superintendent.
Also testifying was a member of the Illinois Association of School Nurses and a representative of The Healthy Schools Campaign.
Upon conclusion of the testimonies, a question and answer period indicated that the Illinois State Representatives present were moved by the testimonies, concerned and very interested in the issues presented.
(submitted by Virginia, retired teacher, and Illinois resident)
Lake Zurich school district confronts mold concerns
Air quality is questioned in Whitney Elementary School and facility reopened to house Whitney kids
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-school-mold_08apr08,0,2635389.story
By Tara Malone | Tribune reporter
10:32 PM CDT, April 7, 2008
When flooding, asbestos and toxic mold shuttered a Lake Zurich school last fall, administrators shifted students to a vacant school next door.
A Lake Zurich School District 95 official called the move "overly cautious" at the time. But eight months later, some parents and janitors contend it may not have been cautious enough as this school might also have mold problems.
Parent Carolyn Fitzgerald is urging the district to hold a public hearing about air quality at Whitney Elementary School's new home after a janitor described "green and yellow mold" in ceiling tiles when he spoke to a panel of state lawmakers last month. District officials dispute the description, citing reports that said the reopened school's air quality was acceptable.
The exchange illuminates the challenge of gauging indoor air quality in public schools, given that it's largely unregulated.
Fitzgerald and other district residents said they plan to circulate a petition this week to rally support for a meeting and have worked with state Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. (R- Mundelein), who offered to mediate the forum.
"Leaky, damp buildings lead to poor, indoor air quality that can lead to poor health," said Fitzgerald, who said she removed her son from the school because she was concerned that any mold could affect his health.
Fitzgerald spoke Monday during a rally organized by the Service Employees International Union in the northern suburb to support two workers dismissed by Aramark Corp., the company District 95 hired to provide custodial services. The workers contend they were fired after they spoke publicly about the mold. Charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board and await review, a board official said.
An Aramark spokeswoman said the dismissal was unrelated to talk of mold.
The school district closely monitors air quality in the reopened school, and the results of a Feb. 2 test came back "just fine," said district spokesman Jim Jennings. Mold concentrations found indoors were less than half the concentrations found outdoors, a common measure of a healthy building environment, the report found. Results are pending from another test."We ordered new air testing to test for mold since the new allegations came out, just so we can put this thing to rest," Jennings said.
An Illinois Department of Public Health inspector did not find evidence of mold during a routine asbestos check in September, said agency spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.
School air quality remains largely unregulated. The Environmental Protection Agency offers guidelines that instruct schools how to avoid mold or clean it up when detected. There are standards for ventilation and work-place safety.
"But no agency has regulatory authority over the indoors of a school," said Mark Bishop, deputy director with the Healthy Schools Campaign. "One of the issues with indoor environments is . . . it's very hard to point to a single measurement or single number and determine whether air is healthy or not."
Lawmakers considered the issue as part of a hearing before the Illinois House education committee last month.
Rep. Jerry Mitchell (R-Rock Falls) said Lake Zurich is not the only school district to confront the possibility of mold. He said a step-by-step process might be needed to guide schools or parents as they investigate the presence of mold.
Meanwhile, some Lake Zurich parents hope a public hearing about air quality in the Whitney school will spur the district to answer their remaining questions and do further tests.
District resident Virginia Johnson, a retired teacher, said she became concerned when a report last fall said the school had high humidity levels, often a contributing cause of mold.
"I hope to heavens that building is perfectly safe, but unless we actually see something that makes sense and that the EPA and board of health can look at and say 'this is reasonable,' " she and others won't be satisfied, Johnson said.
District officials closed Whitney Elementary School when mold was found after a flood in August. It was shuttered permanently when tests revealed the mold was capable of producing toxic chemicals and that an extensive clean-up would be required. The school's 450 students were moved to a vacant former middle school.
An Aramark employee, Gustavo Gomez, helped prepare the vacant school. Gomez told lawmakers that he "saw [ceiling tiles] that were very old, and they were covered in what appeared to be yellow and green mold."
Jennings said what Gomez described as mold "could also just be dust that was wet."
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Additional media articles about these mold concerns in the Lake Zurich School District:
