It should be noted that the claim that this school is (now) free of mold, reported on in the articles below, as well as the inference that Mr. Taylor's daughter became sick in a previous home, is disputed by a local parent group. This school has had scores of allegedly very ill students whose testimony is found on www.ghsair.org , an outstanding parent website with extensive information on GHS's indoor air quality problems. Further, the school district admitted they had mold in the school, previously, which is on record. Early this month (May, 2009), a judge ordered that parent, Paul Taylor III, can be allowed to go in and look for mold in the school. The health of this school building still remains in question, in the minds of many. Lastly, the Tools for Schools federal program is not for hire, contrary to the information in this article. (SMH)
By The Associated Press
Posted: 05/09/2009 09:49:38 PM MDT
ROSWELL — A report says that efforts to rid parts of Goddard High School of mold have been successful, but the school district needs to conduct regular testing to make sure the spores do not return.
The district hired Tools for Schools to examine the high school following a recommendation by the state Health Department in January.
Parents and others in Roswell had been concerned about the school's air quality and called for more testing on its heating and cooling system, ceiling and floor materials.
The parents of one student who, they say, became ill because of the mold sued the Roswell Independent School District for the right to hire their own expert to test Goddard High School for mold.
The Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools report published in April examined possible air contaminants at the high school, including mold found in the walls of an auto shop storage room.
The report cited tests from earlier this year that found mold concentrations of 12,000 spores per cubic meter in the auto shop restroom, and 19,000 spores per cubic meter in an adjoining locker room. Tests of the wall material found concentrations between 480,000 and 600,000.
The numbers sparked concern from a group of parents upset about the school's air quality.
Group member Jodi Ashcraft said in a statement that the environmental group National Resource Defense Council found average mold concentrations of 377,000 spores per cubic meter in houses hit by Hurricane Katrina
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two months after the storm and declared them unsafe for human habitation.
At the time of the Tools for Schools inspection, mold remediation was already under way. The walls had been stripped down to the studs and treated with bleach and Sporicidin, the report said.
Afterward, the school ran more mold tests, and found that levels in the locker room were down to 80 spores per cubic meter — lower than the mold levels outside the school.
"This tremendous decrease in spore counts sampled on February 11 indicates that the mitigation efforts were successful," the report said.
District Operations and Support Services Manager Joe Baca said probably few students were exposed to the highest mold concentrations.
"The reason that nobody knew anything about that was because nobody goes in that storage room," he said.
The school originally found mold in the storage room two years ago after a leak in the roof allowed rain water to infiltrate the walls, Baca said.
Maintenance crews tore out the infected walls, but waited to reinstall them until the roof was replaced in 2008. When they went back to finish the job in January, they found that the mold had spread into the auto shop, a bathroom, a locker room, an office and beneath a stairwell, he said.
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Tools for Schools is a federal EPA program to prevent poor indoor air quality. It is not HIRED. Please clarify who did this report and what the methods were. Perhaps this is a private company that the school district hired, with the same name.
The overgrowth of mold and bacteria in damp, leaky buildings produce toxins which are chemicals - these are in gas form and are harmful to humans. The testing done so far at this building has not measured the exposure to mold toxins (mycotoxins), harmful bacteria, and bacterial toxins, which may have permeated the building and would still remain. Mycotoxins are present in dead mold colonies and coat the contents of the building and HVAC systems, etc., while molds can get into the HVAC systems and grow there, when part of the building has been contaminated, such as has been described. With the amount of illness reported at this school, it is likely the problem is not resolved, but it is good to see that the school district realizes that they had a problem they needed to remediate. Visit www.schoolmoldhelp.org and http://ghsair.org for more information on all of the above.
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Roswell high school clear of mold
Associated Press - May 9, 2009 3:25 PM ET
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - A report says efforts to rid parts of Goddard High School of mold are a success.
But the Tools for Schools report says the school district needs to test regularly to make sure the spores don't return.
The district hired Tools for Schools to examine the high school following a recommendation by the state Health Department in January.
Parents and others in Roswell had been concerned about the school's air quality and called for more testing on its heating and cooling system, ceiling and floor materials.
The report says tests earlier this year found mold concentrations as high as 19,000 spores per cubic meter.
Later the school ran more mold tests that found the levels were down to 80 spores per cubic meter.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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The following is a radio interview that alleges how the school district may be attempting to discredit the claim that Mr. Taylor's daughter fell ill in her school, and how Mr. Taylor responds. (SMH)