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At the school where 7 custodians were sickened, the district denies mold is present, with the help of an outside company's report, yet during a walkthrough musty smells were noted. Employee unions are up in arms. Yet parents continue to drop off students.
Houston & Texas News
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5103821.html
Sept. 3, 2007, 1:51PM
Houston councilman calls a closer look at mold in school
By MIKE GLENN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
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Report on Key Middle School by ICU Environmental, Heath and Safety
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 City Councilman Jarvis Johnson today called for a specialized team of inspectors to determine whether mold inside a building at Key Middle School makes the structure unsafe for students returning to school tomorrow.
"I'm calling for the health inspectors to come in today, not tomorrow, but today," he said. "You can't just take some bleach and water and knock the mold off the walls. That doesn't mean you've remediated the problem."
Johnson, who represents the area on the council but has no authority over school issues, said he had no choice but to intervene. He said he would ask the city's Health and Human Services Department to check the building.
"I certainly have a lot of concern. Anytime you put my children in jeopardy, anytime you put the teachers in jeopardy. Anytime you put janitors in jeopardy," he said. "These are all residents of the city of Houston. Certainly they deserve me being involved."
HISD officials said the school, at 4000 Kelley, was given a clean bill of health after seven janitors were taken to the hospital Saturday.
"We've had a number of inspections done by internal experts and independent external experts," said HISD spokesman Terry Abbott. "None of them have found any unusual levels of mold or any problems at the school."
Abbott said the seven janitors became sick after inhaling bleach fumes during routine cleaning at the school.
"Their illness had nothing to do with mold," Abbott said, adding that the janitors were treated at the hospital and released.
A small amount of mold was found in one annex building, but Abbott said the sickened janitors were working elsewhere at the time.
"They weren't in the annex. They were all up on the second floor of the main building," he said.
Abbott said ICU Environmental Health and Safety, a private industrial hygiene consulting company, found no significant problems this weekend when they checked the campus. On Sunday, officials with the company based in The Woodlands could not be reached for comment.
HISD's position that the workers were sickened by inhaling bleach fumes simply doesn't wash, said Houston Federation of Teachers President Gayle Fallon.
"How many people dump Clorox in their laundry and don't keel over on the spot?" Fallon said. "This is like nothing we've seen before."
By Thursday, 12 staffers at Key Middle School had filed workers' compensation claims, Fallon said. "Not every one of them was hospitalized. Some of them went to their own doctor," she said.
A strong odor that can be detected throughout the school is a clear indication that something is amiss, said Starla Reichek, vice president for nurses with the Texas Federation of Teachers.
Reichek, also the nurse at Key Middle School, noticed the unpleasant smell the first day she walked into the building this semester.
"I wouldn't want my home to smell like that. There has to be a problem somewhere," Reichek said, who is new to the campus this year.
Reichek can't say whether the health complaints found at Key Middle School can be directly attributed to mold or some other problem.
"They need to clean it up," Reichek said. "Whatever it takes. The building needs to smell right. You shouldn't see visible mold and mildew on the wall."
Abbott said Key will be ready for students Tuesday, adding that HISD has an aggressive mold abatement program.
"When we find it, we go after it and we eradicate it," Abbott said. "Thus far, all of the studies have shown no unusual levels of mold anywhere."
However, Fallon said mold samples have been detected throughout Key Middle School. "The fact is, it's all over. Black stuff crawling up the walls," she said.
Fallon said she also became sick Wednesday, only minutes after visiting the campus.
"By the time I got out of the building, I had a headache, my eyes were watering and I was congested," she said. "I wasn't when I walked in there."
She also contracted a skin rash that lasted 24 hours. "I'm not highly allergic to anything," Fallon said.
Wretha Thomas, whose union represents HISD custodians, said relying on school janitors to clean up mold wasn't the best choice.
"They had no prior training on what they were doing," said Thomas, president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel Union. "HISD should have went in and had professionals come in there."
Fallon said the students should be moved to another nearby campus, such as Kashmere High School, until the entire building is thoroughly examined by professionals.
"We're not talking a cursory walk-through," Fallon said.
Thomas said members of her union will gather in front of the school today to protest HISD's decision to keep the campus open.
"We're going to ask (them) not to send the kids back," Thomas said, "until they get a professional team to go in there and comb that school from one end to the other."
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AP Texas News
Sept. 3, 2007, 8:00PM
Houston school district, union at odds over janitors' sickness
© 2007 The Associated Press
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5104703.html
HOUSTON — A city councilman has joined the call for more air quality tests at an elementary school where seven janitors got sick this weekend.
Houston Independent School District officials said the school is safe and will be open to students on Tuesday, despite union concerns about mold problems in the building.
District spokesman Terry Abbott said the janitors became sick Saturday after inhaling bleach fumes during routine cleaning at Key Middle School in northeast Houston. The janitors were treated at a nearby hospital and released, he said.
"We've had a number of inspections done by internal experts and independent external experts," Abbott said. "None of them have found any unusual levels of mold or any problems at the school."
Robert D. Gilmore, a senior project manager with ICU Environmental, Health & Safety, said in a report to the school district that inspections done over the weekend pointed to the workers being exposed to irritating cleaning fumes.
Meanwhile Houston City Councilman Jarvis Johnson is asking the city's Health and Human Services Department to check the building.
"I'm calling for the health inspectors to come in today, not tomorrow, but today," he said Monday. "You can't just take some bleach and water and knock the mold off the walls. That doesn't mean you've remediated the problem."
Johnson represents the area on the council but doesn't have authority over school issues.
"I certainly have a lot of concern. Anytime you put my children in jeopardy, anytime you put the teachers in jeopardy. Anytime you put janitors in jeopardy," he said in a story in Monday's online edition of the Houston Chronicle. "These are all residents of the city of Houston. Certainly they deserve me being involved."
Starla Reichek, vice president for nurses with the Texas Federation of Teachers, said a strong bad smell in the school is a sign that something is wrong.
Reichek, who is also in her first year as nurse at Key Middle School, said she noticed the smell on her first day in the building.
"They need to clean it up," she told the newspaper. "Whatever it takes. The building needs to smell right. You shouldn't see visible mold and mildew on the wall."
Abbott said the district reacts quickly to clean up mold when it's reported. In the case of Key, a small amount of mold was found in one annex building, but the sickened janitors were working elsewhere at the time, he said.
"They weren't in the annex," he said. "They were all up on the second floor of the main building."
Gilmore's report recommended another inspection for a room in the annex to determine the source of a "slightly 'musty' odor" as well as additional cleaning there. The report also recommended additional inspection of the main building where the janitors became ill.
Gayle Fallon, president of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said mold is "all over" the school and she became sick Wednesday after visiting.
"By the time I got out of the building, I had a headache, my eyes were watering and I was congested," she said. "I wasn't when I walked in there."
Wretha Thomas, president of the Houston Educational Support Personnel Union, said the district relied on untrained janitors to take care of a problem that should have been handled by specialists.
She said the union, which represents district custodians, will gather in front of the school Monday to protest the district's decision to keep the campus open.
"We're going to ask (them) not to send the kids back until they get a professional team to go in there and comb that school from one end to the other," Thomas said.
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