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Key Middle School safe from mold, HISD says
Houston Chronicle, Houston, TX*
Sept. 4, 2007
By MATT STILES
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5104783.html
Report on Key Middle School by ICU Environmental, Heath and Safety
After an independent company's report said Key Middle School does
not pose a mold risk to students and staff, the school opened as
usual this morning for classes.
District spokesman Terry Abbott said inspectors have found the
northeast Houston campus to be safe, contrary to complaints from
custodians that mold had made several workers sick over the weekend
and would endanger others if the school remains open.
"The union has continued to try to scare people about Key Middle
School, but the scientific and medical evidence now clearly
contradicts their claims, " Abbott said today.
Despite the ongoing controversy, several parents said this morning
they felt comfortable sending their children to school. A
representative of the teacher's union said a teacher was already
feeling sick, after his first day back in the classroom.
Corina Ortiz of the Houston Federation of Teachers, said the male
teacher who reported feeling sick last week was having difficulty
breathing this morning and his eyes were watering.
"HISD is saying the building is safe. At this point in time, we are
denying it is safe," Ortiz said. "The kids are here, so hopefully
nothing will happen."
Still, Bobbie Parker said she considered keeping home her
granddaughter Brittivia Joseph, but the girl wanted to return after
the holiday weekend.
"I just let her come," Parker said as she waited to take her bus to
work. But several other parents dropping off their children along
Kelley Road said they hadn't heard concerns about the school or they
weren't worried.
"We were worried at first until we found out it was the cleaning
supplies that caused the problem," said Robert Shaw,. who was
dropping off his son, Darius Lewis. "Before that, we weren't going
to allow him to come to school."
Hours after city leaders called for municipal health workers to test
the building, district officials opened the campus at 4000 Kelley to
news reporters on Monday. They then held a news conference with
private inspectors, who said mold is not a threat at the campus.
The tour came two days after at least seven employees became sick
while cleaning rooms in the 50-year-old school. Although some
workers raised concerns about mold, district officials insisted that
bleach fumes were to blame.
Earlier Monday, more than a dozen members of unions representing
teachers and support personnel in the Houston Independent School
District held a protest outside the school.
The protesters, complaining that members were being forced to work
in a hazardous environment, called for an independent assessment.
They said mold was visible in the school and listed numerous
symptoms, including nausea, respiratory ailments and rashes.
"We want the school district to come in and close these doors,
temporarily, and send in a professional (hazardous materials) team,"
said Wretha Thomas, president of the 6,800-member Houston
Educational Support Personnel Union.
Also Monday, City Councilman Jarvis Johnson, who represents the area
but does not have authority over school policy, got at least one
environmental inspector to look at the structure. City health
department spokeswoman Kathy Barton said later, "We do not see any
threat."
Abbott, who invited reporters to discuss the issue with several
district executives with responsibility for building safety, said
custodians had been asked to clean the ventilation units in several
classrooms. Those workers accidentally did so with the units
working, which sent noxious chemicals "back into their faces,"
Abbott said.
Reporters were shown several classrooms, including in the area where
custodians were sickened. No mold was visible, but portions of the
building had a dank, musty smell and one laboratory classroom was so
humid that condensation accumulated on desks.
Robert Gilmore, a senior project manager with ICU Environmental,
Health and Safety, supported the district's position that the bleach
caused the sudden illnesses. The company was hired to determine what
had made the workers ill.
Gilmore said most rooms contained fewer microbial agents than
commonly are found in ambient outdoor air. The laboratory had
slightly higher, but not hazardous, levels, he said.
Following Gilmore's recommendations, district officials said they
will continue monitoring air quality for several days. They also
pledged to work harder to keep employees safe.
"Obviously, something went wrong," said Dick Lindsay, the district's
chief business officer, although he noted that the workers wore
masks and gloves. "We're going to do a lessons-learned exercise and
look at retraining and see what we've all learned."
Abbott said the district would be monitoring the conditions at Key
today, despite all evidence that the school is safe.
"Out of an abundance of caution, we have extra facilities experts
and our medical services people at the building today and will
continue to monitor the activity there, " he said.
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Staff writer Ericka Mellon contributed to this report. |
