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"In a move that surprised parents, North Forest school officials on Wednesday removed students from Tidwell Elementary to clean moldy areas that teachers suspect have been sickening them over several weeks...."
MELISSA PHILLIP: CHRONICLE
"Tidwell Elementary School Principal Phyllis Williams was among the many who attended a North Forest Independent School Board meeting Wednesday evening after Tidwell was closed without warning, apparently because of a mold problem at the school."(Houston Chronicle)
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Oct. 4, 2007, 1:05PM
North Forest forced to shut Tidwell
Mold problem prompts district to send students to nearby school
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5186737.html
By ERICKA MELLON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
In a move that surprised parents, North Forest school officials on Wednesday removed students from Tidwell Elementary to clean moldy areas that teachers suspect have been sickening them over several weeks.
"It's not upsetting that it's mold in the school," said Le Gillam, whose daughter is a first-grader at Tidwell. "What's upsetting is that they let it get to this extent before informing the parents."
The school board voted Wednesday night to send the staff and more than 470 students from Tidwell to nearby Hilliard Elementary for an undetermined amount of time.
Classes for the Tidwell students have been canceled until Tuesday while teachers prepare for the move.
The decision to evacuate Tidwell came on the same day that teachers threatened to walk off the job.
Two weeks earlier, school board members received a memo, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, in which an assistant superintendent detailed several problems at the campus.
The memo said Principal Phyllis Williams reported that mold existed in the library — on books and possibly on the carpet — and in many portable buildings, on the walls and ceiling tiles.
Several parents expressed frustration that district officials did not tell them earlier about potential health hazards at the northeast Houston campus.
The district planned to send an automated phone message to parents Wednesday evening, but the message did not mention mold, according to a transcript provided by the district. It said only that Tidwell was being evacuated because of "facilities problems."
But school board President Barbara Gaston said after a meeting Wednesday evening that a study of Tidwell did, in fact, find mold.
The district would not immediately release a copy of the study.
"Depending on the age of your house, you probably have mold in your house," Gaston said. "But it's one of those things you want to look at. What's important is that these students have a safe and healthy environment."
Linda Sweat, a representative of the teachers' union in North Forest, said about half of the staff members have reported feeling sick at Tidwell.
"Every day I come here, I have puffiness of the eyes, a sore throat, fatigue," said Sweat, an aide at Tidwell. "The building needs to be demolished."
Gillam said his daughter had been coughing and complaining that her nose was running at school, but he didn't initially suspect something in the building might have been the cause of her ailments.
"We need to take her to the doctor," he told his wife after hearing mold was found at Tidwell.
The complaints of illness recounted by employees at Tidwell are similar to those recently reported by staff members at Key Middle School in the Houston school district.
After numerous complaints from Key employees — some of whom went to hospitals in ambulances — Houston school officials decided to relocate the students to nearby Fleming Middle School while further air-quality tests were conducted.
Sweat, of the American Federation of Teachers in North Forest, said the situation at Key had nothing to do with the concerns at Tidwell.
Carl Williams, an assistant superintendent in North Forest, told board members in a Sept. 19 memo that the mold in the portable buildings at Tidwell appeared to be coming from water leaks around the window air-conditioning units and from leaking roofs. The flooring in many classrooms also needs repairs, he wrote, because tiles are missing and the floor is sticky.
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For more on this story, go to http://www.schoolmoldhelp.org/content/view/719/33/
Today's comments:
FTB wrote:
NFISD has been a "questionable" ISD for decades.... WHY?
Why can't they govern themselves?
Why all of the corruption?
Why all of the secrets?
WHY?
10/4/2007 7:19:53 AM
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DAMISSINGLINK wrote:
FTB for a rottie ewe sure can type well. And talk about whiney.
10/4/2007 7:23:28 AM
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qerq wrote:
"What's important is that these students have a safe and healthy environment."
Kids have been in school for a month now, this school sounds like it has been unsafe and unhealthy for some time. Safe would be letting the kids parents know there is a mold problem so the parents can let the sick kids doctor know, not, keep it a secret untill it hits the news.
Sue this school, you will probally find more records of problems here, going back for years.
10/4/2007 8:55:51 AM
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Shannon9898 wrote:
Excuse me? Welfare Butts? Give me a break, what does the amount of money they make have to do with mold in the school. Now thats just plain IGNORANT! My daughter goes to an elementary in NFISD, and it is an outstanding school, the condition of the school is no reflection of the teachers. (And by the way I have never in my life been on welfare)
10/4/2007 9:07:20 AM
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nomoredems wrote:
It's funny...I bet not one parent complaining about health safety at the school has tested for mold in their own house.
10/4/2007 9:28:11 AM
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mememe1 wrote:
We have had an extremely wet and humid summer. These problems could have developed to an extreme during the summer months when normal Houston summer conditions would have dried out many of the wet areas. I think that its commendable that the problem is being resolved before really serious heath conditions were reported. Obviously it had to take some time to confine the problem areas and come up with a resolution to repair them. Not to mention relocating the staff and students.
10/4/2007 10:20:45 AM
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Born2AskWhy wrote:
Why aren't funds from these outragous bond measures used to fix these kind of problems?
10/4/2007 11:09:27 AM
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ArielSanders wrote:
First because its NFISD and not HISD. Phyillis Williams was my elementary school teacher and is one of the most considerate professionals I know. In these schools we can only do or say what the districts allows. Fifth grade Language accross the hall from Mrs. Hines! Hilliard rules!
10/4/2007 3:13:49 PM
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VincentOMoh wrote:
" y daughter goes to an elementary in NFISD, and it is an outstanding school, the condition of the school is no reflection of the teachers. (And by the way I have never in my life been on welfare) "
Which school is it?
I hear about NFISD from numerous sources (newspapers, TV stations, Greatschools, Schooldigger) - and I feel skepticism whenever a person refers to an NFISD school as "outstanding." While HISD is large and has varying demographics and test scores, NFISD is a small (two 1,200 student high schools) and fairly uniform district.
10/4/2007 3:43:07 PM
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Kingfisher wrote:
"The complaints of illness recounted by employees at Tidwell are similar to those recently reported by staff members at Key Middle School in the Houston school district."
The "mold problem" seems to be spreading. Where will the mold menace strike next? Attend the next meeting of the American Federation of Teachers and find out...
10/4/2007 4:03:16 PM
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VincentOMoh wrote:
Key and Tidwell are not very far from each other...
I have a hunch that this is a hoax. I would like for a neutral third party to investigate this and expose the real problem..
10/4/2007 4:31:23 PM
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SandyDo wrote:
I don't think it's mold they're smelling -- it's a lawsuit rising!
10/4/2007 4:52:29 PM
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LMay4111 wrote:
This is a very real issue people meed to understand that this mold can impair their health and can cause death. Persons who have been exposed should seek immediate care from the appropiate health care professional. This is not an allergy it is a neuro-toxin and does not have a specific treatment. I am a nationsside expert who deal with this issue and will be happy to answer any wuestions should you have them my inform is in the profile section . In the meantime People should treat this as a real exposure to a real toxin which it is. T-2 poisoning is deadly and is listed as a Neuro toxin. The persons who are exposed are really sick and are not making up these symptoms as they have shown each time taken out of the buidings they are in acute distress and require emergency Medical care in the ER LMay4111
10/4/2007 5:58:04 PM
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