School plans to prevent further mold troubles

[Guest guest]

School plans to prevent further mold troubles

By LAURA TODE

Of The Gazette Staff

Billings, MT

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?

id=1 & display=rednews/2005/12/03/build/local/40-schools-mold.inc

State health and safety officials inspected Bench Elementary School

Friday and recommended installing ventilation systems in the

school's crawl space to prevent toxic mold from being released into

classrooms. School officials say they will implement the recommended

changes.

Last month, air-quality tests at Bench Elementary indicated low

levels of Stachybotrys black mold. The mold releases a toxin that,

in healthy people, can cause symptoms similar to hay fever,

including watery eyes, runny nose and sneezing. People with

allergies, asthma or lung diseases are likely to have more severe

symptoms and in extreme cases may die.

Teachers' concerns brought the air quality to light this fall when

many of them noticed they all were experiencing similar eye, nose

and throat irritation.

Tests on a classroom with a trapdoor to a crawl space under the

school came back positive for Stachybotrys mold - 22 spores per

cubic meter of air.

District facilities employees sprayed disinfectant in the crawl

space, disinfected the room and sealed the trapdoor entrance before

retesting the room. The second test came back mold-free. A third

test for mold spores was conducted earlier this week and those

results are not yet available.

The ventilation system will pull air out of the crawl space and

create negative pressure, pulling air away from any small cracks or

open spaces that lead to classrooms.

English, principal at Bench Elementary, said he welcomed the

state's involvement.

" Our focus in this is our staff and students, and the more expertise

we have the better, " he said.

Water was discovered last spring and again after the heavy snowstorm

in October. The space was pumped, cleaned and dried, and the

district took precautions to keep water out in the future.

Joe Wolf, a Montana Department of Labor and Industry industrial

hygienist, said the district responded appropriately, and said

school officials have cooperated with the state's Safety and Health

Bureau.

Mold of all kinds is present indoors and outdoors, and spores can be

brought into a building through an open door, window or ventilation

duct. Wolf said any mold should be considered potentially hazardous

and should be cleaned up right away.

The state's industrial hygienists are frequently called to assess

situations in which mold has invaded work spaces, and Wolf said that

while Bench's test that revealed 22 Stachybotrys spores was

relatively low, it is still a serious concern.

" It is a big issue in the nation right now, and it has been for

several years and it will continue to be, " he said.

Wolf will visit the school again next week to continue to monitor

the situation.

During Christmas break, the district plans to check the crawl space

again. Next summer the school is scheduled to have its heating and

ventilation system replaced. At that time, the crawl spaces will be

inspected again.

Contact Tode at ltode@... or 657-1392.