Expert: Don't pin it all on mold
Friday, June 11, 2004
By Shawn Menzies, published on sjnewsco.com {South Jersey, New Jersey]
WASHINGTON TWP. -- Humidity and several consecutive years of bad allergy
seasons share the blame with mold for discomfort and a number of illnesses
in two of the district's three middle schools, an occupational and
environmental expert told board of education members Thursday.
But what lingers is a movement by at least three parents to oust two board
members they say failed to do their jobs and rectify the problem years ago,
when mold and health concerns first surfaced.
Dr. Howard M. Sandler, who was hired by the district to evaluate previous
air quality studies and other tests conducted at Orchard Valley and Chestnut
Ridge middle schools, said his review points to several factors that
together caused reactions in many students and teachers who have allergies
or are asthmatic.
"The bottom line is we measured the schools for mold levels and we did not
find levels above what we expected to see." said Sandler, who has worked the
field for 25 years and has testified before Congress on issues dealing with
mold. "Other schools tested (in the district) had levels below or
similar to what was found present in Chestnut Ridge and Orchard Valley."
He said pollen and airborne mold particles coming into the school from the
outside, via open doors and windows, could have played a role in people's
reactions.
He said some of those who became ill at the schools could be
"hypersensitive" and likely were more susceptible to the unfavorable
conditions. He added a number of other factors could have played a part
in triggering allergic or asthmatic reactions, like odorizers in some
classrooms, cold air and even stress.
"You do have a specific level of concern, but not specifically from mold,"
Sandler told board members.
Currently, both middle schools are sharing 100 industrial-size
dehumidifiers, officials said.
Superintendent Thomas Flemming said a short-term goal is ready. It will
consist of cleaning the entire interior of the schools, top to bottom, and
restocking the schools. From there they will control the humidity in the
buildings.
"We should be in good shape by August," Flemming said. "Then the custodial
crews will clean desks and chairs."
Flemming said even books will be cleaned and stored during the process. Data
will also be recorded electronically and detail environmental conditions in
the schools. Humidity level will be kept at 60 percent, he said.
"We will be open in September and be spotless," Flemming said. He added a
long-term solution should be in place by next month, noting the cost to
remediate the conditions is estimated at $300,000. And plans could be in the
works to perform similar work district-wide, he said.
In his presentation to board members, Sandler noted that Thomas Jefferson
School had similar test results, yet 28 students from the two middle schools
now being educated at Jefferson at their parents' request have not
complained about being ill or having reactions.
While the school year will end in less than a week and work to remediate the
two middle schools will start soon afterward, a recall of board members
Carol Saghirian and Eileen Abbott, a former board president, moves
forward.
Recall committee members Mona Dano, Bonnie Tuttle and Maureen Casey, who all
have children in the school system, began collecting signatures Tuesday.
They need to collect 7,403 signatures, or 25 percent of the nearly 30,000
registered voters in town.
The district received the recall information earlier this week and on
Thursday presented the information to board members. The entire process
could take as long as four months to be completed.
Abbott said she has always done what was best for the students, staff and
the community and stands by her record.
"We always voted to do what the professional told us to do," Abbott said.
She added those recommendations over the years included having vents
cleaned, carpets and tiling removed and replaced and other remediation
procedures.
Parents file suit over mold
Wash. Twp. group wants students transferred
By TIM ZATZARINY JR.
Courier-Post, August 10, 2004
WOODBURY
A group of parents who contend the Washington Township school district
mishandled mold problems in two middle schools filed a lawsuit Monday
demanding that the district send the students to another school in the fall.
The parents, members of Washington Township Parents Who Care, filed the
lawsuit against the local school board on behalf of 13 former and current
students at Orchard Valley and Chestnut Ridge middle schools.
Mold in the ventilation systems at both schools aggravated their
children's existing health problems, the parents contend.
Two of the students named as plaintiffs are set to enter Orchard Valley
in the fall. Their health would be harmed by attending the school, their
parents say.
"The buildings have become the center of a growing public health crisis
that has affected a number of the township's most vulnerable residents: 12-
to 15-year-old middle school students," according to the lawsuit, which was
filed in Superior Court.
The plaintiffs seek a permanent injunction allowing the students to
attend other schools until the mold problem is permanently fixed, along with
unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
They also want the district to start a fund to pay for medical monitoring
for all affected current and former students up to age 20.
In a related complaint filed Monday, the parents seek a temporary
injunction forcing the district to send affected students to Bunker Hill
Middle School or pay for them to attend school outside the district when
classes begin Sept. 7. A Superior Court judge is expected to hear the
injunction request within the next two weeks, said the plaintiffs'
attorneys, Louis Giansante and Carol R. Cobb of Moorestown.
Although the district has taken steps to permanently fix the problem,
that process won't be finished by the start of the school year, the parents
said in the lawsuit.
School board solicitor Joseph Betley said Monday that the district has
been open with parents about the mold issue since problems surfaced in 1990,
two years after the schools were built.
"The parents believe there's been a cover-up and I believe that's an
unfair criticism with no basis to support it," Betley said.
In September 2003, the district's engineering firm determined that
classroom ventilators at the affected schools were ineffectively extracting
humidity from the air, creating a breeding ground for mold in classrooms and
inside the ventilation systems.
Throughout the school year, dozens of students and staff members at
Orchard Valley and Chestnut Ridge complained of health problems attributed
to mold. In the spring, 28 students were transferred to Thomas Jefferson
Elementary School, where they were taught by a middle-school teacher.
In May, the district began a two-phase cleanup that includes replacing
insulation within classroom ventilators and installing industrial
dehumidifiers in classrooms. The cleanup is expected to be complete in time
for the start of school.
Local residents will be asked in December to approve through a referendum
$5 million in bond funding to replace the ventilation systems at Chestnut
Ridge and Orchard Valley. If the referendum passes, work would begin next
summer, school officials said. The total cost of the projects is estimated
at $10.5 million, half of which would be paid by the state.
"The referendum might not even go through," said Maureen Casey, a
plaintiff in the lawsuit along with her son, Phillip, 13.
Casey contends mold at Orchard Valley aggravated her son's asthma,
causing him to miss several weeks of school. This fall, Phillip will attend
seventh grade at Friends School in Harrison.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit also ask the district to create a standing
committee made up of parents and board members to address air quality issues
in the schools.
The district already has such a committee and the board is awaiting the
results of air quality tests before deciding whether to send affected
students to Bunker Hill in September, Betley said.
[Home] [Up] [Mold-Moms-Schools-News] [Baltimore-School-Mold] [Florida-School-Mold] [More-School-Mold-News] [Voters-Approve-Mold-Remediation] [Student-Mold-Remediators] |
