Banfield Elementary moves students due to mold

October 4, 2002

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Elementary moves students due to mold concerns

Tuesday, 09/24/02

(KAAL) - Barely a month into the school year, some Austin elementary

students are uprooted from their classrooms because of a mold problem. It's

a situation parents were just notified of yesterday. About 90 second and

third graders on the northside of Banfield Elementary were moved from their

classrooms Tuesday morning after an independent environmental assessor said

it was too dangerous if they stayed.

Five classrooms are off limits until the mold is cleaned up. " We had

concerns beginning in August, basically, and began to take action, " said

Principal Dale kson.

There were concerns from staff when, at the beginning of the school year,

humid weather prohibited freshly-cleaned carpets from drying, which

eventually led to cleaning ventilators, removing shrubs blocking air flow,

and sealing off open pipes under the floor. But the problems still linger.

" We've been moving quickly on this as we can, " kson said.

Parents were notified Monday that their children would be moved, and are now

put up in the gym and other spare rooms. These are children who could be

prone to adverse health effects from a month's worth of mold exposure.

" Some people are more susceptible than others, " said Bill Buckley, Mower

County Environmental Health. " It can be any individual kind of thing, but

there are some molds that are much more, have more effect. Some can even be

toxic. "

The kind of mold in Banfield is still unknown; more test results are

expected in a few weeks. For now, the affected hallway won't stand empty, as

students just across the hall will stay in their rooms because kson says

there is no danger to them.

He says no reports of illness due to the mold has been made, and the

superintendent's office tells Six News that no other school has reported

such problems.

As for why Banfield parents weren't notified until now, kson says they

didn't feel they had enough information to go on until now.

Cook, KAAL NEWS

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