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A very clever Columbia, MO Kindergarten teacher taught her district's school board a lesson about the mold in her classroom. Read two articles that describe it!
Parent asks School Board for permission to move children
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/04/15/parent-asks-school-board-permission-move-children/
Columbia Missourian - Columbia,MO,USA
STEPHANIE HINKLE
New Columbia School Board president Michelle Gadbois, left, congratulates the new vice president Steve Calloway on Monday evening. Gadbois takes the place of school board member Karla DeSpain for the next term.
By AUDREY SPALDING AND KATE GENELLIE
April 15, 2008 | 12:59 a.m. CST
COLUMBIA — Before an audience of at least 75 community members, Heather Sheridan asked the Columbia School Board to let her take her two sons out of Benton Elementary School.
“Please stop poisoning my children,” she asked.
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Classroom 100 at Benton Elementary has been ridden with mold for years, kindergarten teacher Renee Mottaz said.
“I have children who are trying to learn, and they have nosebleeds,” Mottaz said. “I have children in my classroom who have developed asthma.”
The mold, she said, is in the ceiling, in the carpet and in the walls.
The books are warped with mold, and School Board members were able to see — and touch — the books themselves. After telling board members how dangerous it is to inhale the mold, Mottaz held up the books in Ziplock bags.
“Is it OK if I take them out of the plastic bags?” she asked, before handing the books out.
Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Jack Jensen tried to explain. Room 100 was cleaned that day, he said. Later during the meeting, he stepped out to discuss moving Sheridan’s two sons to another school.
Mottaz wasn’t satisfied with Jensen’s response. Cleaning won’t kill the mold, she said; it will just go dormant. Part of the problem, she said, is Benton’s chronically leaky roof.
“How can we spend $500,000 on SmartBoards but not on this?” new board member Ines Segert asked.
In the school district, money doesn’t move easily after it has been earmarked for one type of expense. The district promised to spend that $500,000 on “technology,” Superintendent Phyllis Chase said, so the board can’t spend it to fix a building.
All board members appeared shocked at the problems of Room 100.
The board meeting began without controversy. Michelle Gadbois was elected board president and Steve Calloway was elected vice president. Both votes were unanimous.
But within 15 minutes, Segert raised the issue of spending money on SmartBoards, electronic white boards that have been criticized recently. Many teachers cited the SmartBoards as an example of what could be cut from the budget in a recent district survey.
Segert’s proposal, that the board wait to approve spending money on SmartBoards, was voted down.
“Four-three in favor of keeping things the way they are,” Gadbois said, announcing the vote.
Disagreement among board members continued throughout the rest of meeting, unfinished as of 11:30 p.m. Monday.
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Comments on this article
Great writing/reporting ladies. This story disgusts me so much I want to attend the next school board meeting. Thank you.
Posted by Allison Bennett on Apr 15, 2008 at 8:29 a.m. (Report Comment)
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The Center for School Mold Help commends the lesson that the Kindergarten teacher taught the School Board members. Mold is not harmless. It is not pleasant nor desirable. Especially when YOU are the one exposed. Very good lesson.
The children need to continue to be protected through proper remediation - not "cleaning". Cleaning mold off surfaces does nothing about the source of the moisture, nor the hidden mold inside soggy walls, above ceilings and below floors. Visit www.schoolmoldhelp.org for Remediation information and much, much more!
Posted by Susan Brinchman on Apr 16, 2008 at 6:57 p.m.
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Teacher gives board firsthand look at mold
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Apr/20080415News001.asp
Columbia Daily Tribune - Columbia,MO,USA
By JANESE HEAVIN of the Tribune’s staff
Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008
A Benton Elementary School kindergarten teacher unwrapped a Ziploc-sealed bag of mold-encrusted books and thrust them into the hands of Columbia Board of Education members last night.
Some of the board members wrinkled their noses and delicately passed the books on, not wanting to touch the moldy paper. But Renee Mottaz wanted them to see, and feel, firsthand what her students deal with on a daily basis.
Mold lives in the carpet and the ceiling in Room 100, causing nosebleeds and afternoon grogginess, she said.
"They’re breathing more spores than air," Mottaz said, noting that she first reported this in 2005. "What’s going to happen now? ... Somebody has really ignored Benton Elementary, and it’s time to stop. The children are suffering."
The district conducted an air-quality test earlier this year, and results in February showed elevated levels of mold but nothing to the degree of endangering children, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Barnett said.
"There was no indication that it was dangerous to be in that room," she said today.
But parents Cynthia Sapp and Heather Sheridan told board members last night their children had suffered from mold in the classroom.
"The whole thing is just disturbing," Sapp said, noting that her child has been in and out of the hospital with respiratory problems. "This should’ve been taken care of a long time ago."
Sheridan, whose two sons have been at Benton since February, said she planned to take them out of the school until the problems are dealt with. "Please stop poisoning my children," Sheridan said.
Yesterday, Mottaz’s class was relocated while custodial staff deep-cleaned the classroom, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Jack Jensen told the board.
"We’re making plans as to how to work through that situation," he said.
The school board in October approved replacing Benton’s roof as part of a larger package of facility improvements being funded with proceeds from last year’s $60 million bond issue. Chief Operations Officer Nick Boren said today work at Benton is likely to begin Thursday.
"I apologize it wasn’t done as quickly as it should have been done," Jensen told board members and parents last night.
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Reach Janese Heavin at (573) 815-1705 or
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SMH Note: It is unwise to remove mold from a bag, expose others and handle it - also, if the plastic bag isn't thick enough, mycotoxins and other emissions may penetrate and pass through the bag. Very heavy plastic freezer bags are best, and we recommend not taking the books out if teaching this lesson to other school boards needing educational experiences!
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