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In a Tucson school, Ventana Vista Elementary, teachers remain concerned after years of complaints and recent district testing (Jan. 07) that showed no problems. This is a familiar pattern, across the nation, in schools with mold.
http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=5961208
Tucson, Arizona
News 4 Investigators follow-up
Erica Heartquist Reports
Air quality tests show little mold problem at Ventana Vista Elementary
Jan 19, 2007 05:40 AM PST
Now to a story The News 4 Investigators have been following for nearly six months.
Long-time mold complaints at Ventana Vista Elementary School (http://www.cfsd.k12.az.us/schools/vves/).
Employees say there have been ongoing mold complaints at the school for years.
After we agreed to protect their identities, more and more teachers stepped forward to talk to us.
After numerous requests for an interview, Associate Superintendent Terry Downey finally agreed to talk to us.
She told The News 4 Investigators the school was safe and they were taking steps to address the teacher complaints.
At that time, we were we waiting for the official air quality test results at the school.
Now, News 4 has the results from the tests provided by the district.
According to one expert, the school had some issues but they did not appear to be serious and the school was safe.
Teachers who work in the school every day still have concerns.
"I'm not satisfied because I don't trust what they've done because they didn't come out in the first place and try to take care of the mess. I'm already doubtful."
District employees met to talk with News 4 about the paperwork, as long as we agree to conceal their identities, once again.
News 4 obtained the air quality and mold test results from the Catalina Foothills School District office.
We told the Catalina Foothills School District that we were planning a follow-up story.
We asked Associate Superintendent, Terry Downey for another interview.
Her secretary called us back and said she was not interested.
So we gave an independent party, Dr. Mark Sneller, a Microbiologist with a specialty in Medical Mycology, a copy of the report to see what all the numbers on the spreadsheets really mean.
"Basically, I didn't see a lot going on in there," he said.
Sneller said that while there were traces of potentially harmful molds like stachybotrys, penicillium and aspergillus, the spore counts were low compared to what they were outside.
"And we did see some cases where there were elevated counts indoors, spore counts of different but they sort of mirrored the cross section of what was outside."
Did he see any "red flag" areas?
"There might have been one or two areas out of all the tests, one or two areas that might need a little further work," he said.
But the employee who works in the building every day says she's concerned that the mold will worsen.
"I think our school district is trying to protect their reputation and that the only reason that they're addressing the mold is because of you, of KVOA. I believe that... and I think many people believe that," the employee said.
We'll continue to check in with our sources and if there's anything more to report we'll let you know.
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