Video Parents say mold is making their kids sick

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Parents say mold is making their kids sick

Last Update: 9/22/2006 11:46:46 PM

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(Mobile, Ala.) Sept 22. -- " Since school's started he's complained

of severe headaches. He's had stomach aches, " said Hennis.

's fifth grader isn't the only child from his class that's

coming home sick.

" It grew worse than just allergies. She started running a low-grade

fever. She was in a lot of pain, " said Chuck Oates, father of

another fifth grade Hutchens student.

After Thursday night's PTA meeting, where parents discussed their

children's symptoms, the parents along with the school principal

decided to see for themselves what was behind the walls of the

portable classroom their children sat in. What they discovered

behind the chalkboard horrified them.

" It makes me sick to look at it, " said Dr. Bill , principal of

Hutchens Elementary School.

Dr. says the same portable classroom had a mold issue last

year, but it had since been cleaned. The Mobile County School Board

recently hired an engineering firm to test for mold in several of

Hutchen's portables, tests that came back negative. But the parents

decided to test for mold themselves, and they found three samples

taken from the same three classrooms the engineering firm had

tested, all with accellerated mold growth.

" The air quality was found to be better in the portables than

outside, but because there had been questions raised from some of

the parents and the principal, a maintenance person went out there

with a supervisor, and I think he's working on the problem right

now, " said Pierce, public relations spokesperson for the

Mobile County Public Schools.

" I want to be assured that my children are O-K. That whatever class

they're attending school in, that's it's a healthy environment, "

said Dr. . And until he is certain the portable is safe,

has moved the fifth grade classroom to the library until the

mold issue is resolved.