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Is Athens' Brookhill school making some people sick?
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050302/fungus.shtml
By Holly Hollman
DAILY Staff Writer
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· 340-2445
ATHENS — A fourth-grader with eye fungus. A principal with a paralyzed vocal cord.
Is an elementary school making these people sick?
School officials say testing indicates that mold levels do not exceed environmental limits at Brookhill Elementary.
Athens City Councilman Harold Wales told the Athens City Board of Education on Monday that the board may never know what keeps making people sick.
"It comes down to how many kids and teachers get sick, before you say we've spent all this money, and you may never find out what's wrong," Wales said.
Superintendent Orman Bridges Jr. expects to receive a written report today from John Sikes, assistant director of environmental programs at The University of Alabama. Sikes took air samples from three areas at Brookhill.
Concerns about mold erupted in October 2000 when the board closed the 300-plus-student school when testing found stachybotrys, aspergillus and penicillium in the air. The school, built in 1989, has had humidity problems since it opened.
After renovations, the board reopened Brookhill. Subsequent testing has not showed high levels of mold or fungus substances since, officials said.
During Monday's board/council meeting, parents said their children still are enduring medical problems, such as asthma attacks, bloody noses, headaches and sinus infections.
Parent Cary Boyd said his fourth-grade son is taking three medications for an eye fungus, the same type a July 2004 test of the school indicated was in his classroom.
Principal Janet Poole talks with a raspy voice and is under a physician's orders not to be at the school. She had surgery for polyps on her vocal cords, and her right vocal cord is paralyzed. Poole has been taking sick leave or wearing a biohazard mask to work.
"If there is a problem, we want to find out what it is and take the appropriate action," Bridges said. "A lot of money has been put into that school."
Bridges said that without assistance from the city or state, the system cannot afford to build a new school. He said there are other options. Athens Intermediate School's design allows for expansion by adding wings to the building.
"If we find something wrong, it would depend on the cost to fix it, and the magnitude of the problem as to what we would do," Bridges said. "I don't know if reports of sick students and staff are isolated to Brookhill. I'm getting information from all the schools to see if there are similar incidents districtwide."
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Brookhill's mold timeline
1700s — Congress orders survey of northwestern territory, divides it into townships and townships into 36 sections of one square mile. Congress stipulates Section No. 16 of each township be reserved for public school need, and makes that provision part of subsequent legislation admitting states to the union.
March 2, 1819 — Congress gives the Section No. 16 school lands to Alabama.
1989 — Brookhill Elementary is built in southern Athens on Section No. 16 land. Mayor Dan Williams, a former Athens City Board of Education member, said the land was free but has turned out to be flat swampland.
October 2000 — The board closes Brookhill for 52 days when testing finds mold and fungus including stachybotrys, aspergillus and penicillium in the air.
First Baptist Church of Athens serves as a temporary school.
Teachers clean textbooks with bleach wipes, and parents receive instructions to clean material children bring home from school with bleach wipes or 10 parts water and one part bleach.
Former Superintendent James Irby says no air conditioning in the gym and the building's design contributed to the problems. It costs about $500,000 to remove carpet, ceiling tiles and old insulation and install a cooling system in the gym.
2002 — The system spends nearly $382,000 for installation on a four-pipe HVAC system and gutter work to control humidity. W.S. Electric and Air-Conditioning installs the system. Terry Painter of W.S. Electric says the old heating and cooling system was retaining 55 gallons of water every hour. That led to the facility having more than 15,000 mold spores per cubic feet of air.
August 2004 — Painter tells the board it must spend between $7,500 and $15,000 a year maintaining the HVAC and gutter system properly and testing for mold. He says the spore count has dropped to 295 per cubic foot of air.
February 2005 — Parents tell the board their children still are getting sick with nosebleeds, sinus infections and other respiratory problems.
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