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New Jersey moms spur cleanup of mold in middle schools
They banded together
after their children got sick. The district began
cleaning yesterday.
By Dwight Ott,
Inquirer Staff Writer, philly.com, May 2, 2004
They're known as the "Mold Moms," and they're forcing changes in
Washington Township.
The trio of school parents is having T-shirts printed, and is
communicating with the rest of the town through a Web site.
Yesterday, partly as a result of the group's ceaseless agitation, the
Washington Township School District began a cleanup of two middle schools:
Orchard Valley and Chestnut Ridge.
The parents got involved this spring when their children began to develop
illnesses from what they suspected was mold in the schools. The matter
reached a head when a teacher went out on disability, saying she was sick
from mold.
The trio then began mobilizing, demanding that the district act.
Brought together by the illnesses of their children, the mothers have
become friends.
One of them, Mona Dano, is a fitness instructor who recently moved here
from California. Another, Maureen Casey, is studying to be a teacher. The
third, Bonnie Tuttle, is a stay-at-home mother.
"We're determined that we won't stop until the people responsible are
gone," Casey said yesterday at her two-story Colonial home as her son
Phillip, 12, was preparing for an ice hockey game after recovering from
illnesses.
The Mold Moms have spawned a larger group, Parents Who Care, organized
around the mold issue.
Even with the start of cleanup yesterday, they contend that the full
extent of the problem has been covered up by district officials.
"We don't trust the district or the school board," Casey said.
Yesterday, to alleviate the problems, the district launched a six-week
remediation project conducted by Core Mechanical Contractors Inc. of
Pennsauken. It will be followed by a second phase over the summer.
"Essentially we're taking the insulation out of the unit ventilators,"
Superintendent Thomas Flemming said Friday. "We're sanitizing and cleaning
the insides. The problem in the schools has been excessive humidity. The
cooling system can't dehumidify. They're installing industrial
dehumidifiers."
He said this will help to reduce the presence of cladosporium, which has
mushroomed into a major concern in the district.
"All work will be completed on weekends and will be conducted and closely
monitored according to industry-standard containment protocol," he wrote in
a published letter.
But Casey said this weekend's cleanup was "not enough... a Band-Aid."
The parents want the entire ventilation systems replaced, and they want
everything ripped out that has been touched by mold.
Tuttle, who is doing the research and legwork, has found problems dating
to 1992.
Dano, interviewed by phone yesterday, said: "We have caused such a
commotion in the community and finally shaken the administration. But the
administration has known about this for a long time."
She said that she, Casey and parents of 20 other students are withholding
their children from the affected schools and sending them to Jefferson
Elementary School in the township's Turnerville section. There, she said,
they are being taught by a middle school teacher whose doctor advised her
also to avoid mold.
Dano said the group wants the state to get involved, because the parents
contend that the school board has tried to sweep the mold issue under the
rug.
She contends that the schools are plagued with the dangerous aspergillus
mold in addition to the more benign cladosporium. Officials have said that a
recent test indicated no aspergillus.
"If they would have said we have a problem from the beginning and let's
fix it, we would have been happy," Dano said.
Flemming counters that he has worked long and hard on the problem. "We
will continue to pursue the most timely and cost-effective means of
implementing... remediation plans... to promote a safe, comfortable and
productive learning environment," he said in the letter.
According to Dano, the schools were built incorrectly in 1989.
She said that two teachers have suffered severe illnesses and that her
son, Karl Swanson, 14, has developed severe asthma and a heart problem
attributed to the lack of oxygen associated with asthma.
Casey said the problem was known at the beginning of
the school year. "They should have warned parents at the beginning of the
school year...," Casey said. "That's why I'm angry, furious with them."
© 2004 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources.
All Rights Reserved.
http://www.philly.com
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