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Suspected mold problem delays Keansburg preschoolers
Classes won't be held until Monday
Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park,NJ*
9/5/07
BY KEVIN PENTON
KEYPORT BUREAU
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
AID=/20070905/NEWS01/709050484/1004/NEWS01
KEANSBURG — Classes for all of the district's 239 preschoolers will
be delayed until Monday and held at the Joseph C. Caruso School
because of a suspected mold problem in several classroom trailers,
the Board of Education decided Tuesday.
Once school does begin, pupils will be split into two sets that will
attend half-day sessions, 8:20 to 11:20 a.m. or noon to 3 p.m., the
board decided. Classes for the preschoolers had been scheduled to
begin Thursday.
The emergency plan is expected to be in place until the trailers are
cleaned up, a process that district officials anticipate will take
several weeks.
Testing in late August of the air inside, under and immediately
outside several trailers that are part of the Port Monmouth Road
School found higher than normal amounts of mold, a district
consultant said.
The mold grew because of water leaks inside the trailers and because
the structures were laid atop a recessed area where water collects
during rainstorms, said Lance Berens, senior industrial hygienist
with Environmental Connection, Trenton, which the district hired
this spring.
Leaves from nearby trees collect under the trailers, Berens said,
and as they dampen and rot they let off a foul odor that can be
smelled inside the trailers. The leaves also attract microscopic
mushrooms that feed on the dead leaves, he said.
"Generally, it's wet and rather nasty under all of them," Berens
said of the space under the trailers. "Because everything is wet
down there, you have a perfect breeding ground."
Spores from the maturing mushrooms could cause allergic reactions in
people who are either allergic to them, have asthma or have other
medical conditions, Berens said.
Details of the most recent test results were not available Tuesday.
Even though the mold in the 5-year-old trailers was not found to be
at an alarming level, it made sense to be on the safe side and clean
them out without pupils present, board President William Manoes said.
"If I wouldn't send my own kid in there, I certainly wouldn't allow
the children of other people to go to school under those
conditions," Manoes said before the board meeting Tuesday.
Under the plan, parents are expected to be notified by telephone
today that all Port Monmouth Road School preschool pupils will
attend classes at the Caruso School beginning Monday. Parents will
also be offered several child-care options during the phone call.
When the pupils are not in class, the district will provide free
child care at the Caruso School from 8:20 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. for
children of parents who submit a letter from their employer showing
that they work during the day.
The district will also provide a "wraparound" child care service to
5:30 p.m. The cost of the service varies, depending on the parents'
income. Already, 48 children are signed up for the service, which is
offered year-round.
Several parents in the audience, which numbered more than 50,
questioned the notification procedures, saying few people knew of
the meeting Tuesday or even of the mold conditions in the trailers.
"My nephew just went to school in those trailers," said resident
Karen Tucker, whose child is about to begin preschool. "I'm
concerned about what he was exposed to."
Board member Kimberly Moran said the district learned only Friday of
the new test results for the trailers. She said administrators moved
quickly to develop a plan for how to deal with the first day of
school.
"We didn't want to cause chaos and provide no answers to parents,"
Moran said. |
