Video - Mold Closes Eastern Iowa School

August 24, 2007

Mold Closes Eastern Iowa School

KWWL Iowa*

A growing problem at one eastern Iowa school causes it to close down

for the time being. The principal at River Hills, a special needs

school in Cedar Falls, decided to cancel school because of mold. At

least one mother who has a student attending, says she's happy the

school isn't risking students safety.

Sixteen year old Dallas Harper loves going to school at River Hills,

but he won't get that chance Friday. His mother Becky Harper says

that's a good thing. She won't risk Dallas' health with a mold

problem at the school. " I was glad that they canceled school,

because with Dallas' health we have to be so careful with everything

for him. He does have asthma and that's one of the things that the

mold will cause problems with, especially if someone is allergic to

the mold, " says Becky Harper.

Becky says she doesn't think Dallas is allergic to mold, but still

wants to be careful. She says every couple of years a new ailment

pops up for her son. " We never know what's going to trigger

something with him. This time of year gets pretty hairy because he

gets really wheezy so the mold I'm sure would have exacerbated

anything, " says Becky Harper.

She adds that its not uncommon for someone with special needs to

have health problems, but that the ones Dallas has are worse than

many. She says, " He's not able to breathe on his own, so he's

ventilator dependent and he has oxygen 24 hours a day. " She adds

that any disturbance to that could mean big-time trouble, " The

slightest thing that's going to compromise his breathing could be

the thing that takes him. "

River Hills School hired a company to remove the mold. It will

perform air quality tests over the weekend. Classes will resume only

when the air is deemed safe.

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