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After returning their children to a dusty, moldy, old elementary school that has been recently treated for mold and cleaned, parents are frustrated because children are experiencing nosebleeds and other alarming symptoms, and are being denied the use of air cleaners*.
King's Highway Elementary School
(*Note: SMH does NOT feel that air cleaners will help ill or sensitized people in a moldy school environment.)
Parents Frustrated With KHS Air Quality
Westport-News - Westport,CT*
By Michael C. Juliano
09/26/2007
http://www.westport-news.com/ci_7003375
About 40 parents of students at King's Highway Elementary School
(KHS) stayed at the Board of Education's Monday night meeting past
two o'clock in the morning to express their frustration with the
issue of the air quality at the 80-year-old institution.
Several parents said their children have been experiencing
nosebleeds and other illnesses at the school, which has been beset
recently with mold and air-quality problems.
Some parents said the administration has to provide teachers as soon
as possible with poles needed to open the school's upper windows for
proper ventilation. Others said they have brought HEPA (High
Efficiency Particulate Air) filters into some classrooms to help
purify the air, but they have run into a bureaucratic snag with the
school administration whereby the filters cannot be used.
"Some parents have brought in the air filters but they're not
allowed to plug them in," said KHS parent Scott Howard.
Superintendent of School Elliott Landon said a teacher brought in a
HEPA filter, but it may not be used because such a device must be
purchased and approved by the school administration for safety
reasons.
"When there's a medical necessity for it, then we provide it," he
said.
In response, Howard asked what constitutes a medical necessity.
"One of the children has to show symptoms?" he said.
Sean Timmins, a KHS parent who is also a member of the
Representative Town Meeting, said he is struggling to understand why
there is so much resistance from the school administration to
putting the filters in the classrooms and why there needs to be a
medical necessity for them.
"The school was filthy prior to it being cleaned this summer," he
said, adding parents are willing to buy the machines, which are
silent. "Why the push-back on this? I can't understand. Nothing bad
has happened. Only good can come from those filters."
In response to parents' questions, Landon said it is not a school
policy to wait for a medical necessity, but it has been
its "practice."
Timmins said his children are displaying medical symptoms, but he
thinks it may not be from the mold.
"I believe we've done a good job cleaning up the school, but the
school is filled with dust," he said.
He said parents know the school has air-quality issues due to
ventilators not being turned on and other reasons.
"The air does not flow," he said. "What the hell is wrong with
putting a HEPA filter in a room?"
Landon said each case has to be examined individually.
"We just don't allow people to bring machinery into classrooms," he
said.
Landon said he would re-examine the possibility of bringing filters
into the school with the district's health professionals and legal
counsel.
Larry Wasserman said his daughter, who is in first grade at the
school, has been coughing every night since school started and plans
on keeping her out of the school until the problem is fixed.
"Why can't I put a filter in the room?" he said. "My daughter has
nosebleeds, she has an allergic condition."
When asked if he would send his own child to that school, Landon
said he would do so "absolutely 100 percent" based on the opinion of
Gil Cormier, a certified industrial hygienist with Occupational Risk
Control Services, that the school's air was safe for children.
"Gil Cormier said he would send his own child there," he said.
In response to parents, Landon said the administration should decide
by the end of the week whether the filters could be used in the
classrooms.
Nancy Harris, assistant superintendent for business, said a purchase
order has been made for the poles.
Expressing the sentiment of many parents there, Georgia, Larry
Wasserman's wife, "We want immediate action."
Prior to the discussion with the parents on the issue of the mold,
the board looked at a possible appropriation request of almost $2.4
million related to air-quality issues at the district's schools.
Following a lengthy discussion, the board decided it would discuss
and vote on an appropriation request of $773,000 at a future meeting.
The board reduced the request by more than $1.6 million by deciding
to hold back a $900,000 request to repoint all the bricks throughout
the district, a $100,000 request for the annual salary of a indoor
air-quality/HVAC specialist and an appeal for $750,000 to remove
carpeting from all of the school's ground floors. The board also
reduced a $100,000 request for unanticipated expenses at the school
to $7,000.
Despite the reductions, the board decided to keep a request of
$450,000 for money owed to Connecticut Light and Power due to a
faulty electric meter at the school.
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See School Mold - by State, CT - Westport on this site, for previous media coverage about this school.
(SMH Comment: It is obvious that this school is not yet safe (and may never be) if the children are exhibiting Sick Building symptoms. Old, poorly maintained, damp buildings that have high dust levels and mold will often have residual mycotoxins and other biological agents still present (in dust, too) even after stopping the source of moisture and "remediation" efforts. Testing often focuses on spores and mold colonies rather than these agents, at times, leading to a false negative related to the health of a building. ) |
