Is mold a problem in HISD schools?

[Guest guest]

Is mold a problem in HISD schools?In Focus reporter Ted Oberg

investigates

abc13.com - Houston,TX

By Ted Oberg

(10/13/07 - KTRK/HOUSTON)

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local & id=5705400

- The district says it could be months before students get back to

Key Middle School. HISD still can't find out what's wrong there, and

it appears the mold people point to is far worse at many other

schools.

We found several more schools with problems and a shortcoming the

district owns up to.

By the time Key Middle School students moved out of their school on

September 26, test after test by the district and outside health

experts found nothing immediately wrong. And now, two and a half

weeks later, there's still no answer.

" I don't know exactly what the problem is, " said HISD Maintenance

Manager on.

Test results and district documents do show there was mold in five

classrooms at Key. The first custodians got sick during the cleaning

process, possibly from bleach fumes. But teachers didn't start

getting sick until after the mold was cleaned up.

All the Centers for Disease Control could find was a " damp

building, " a somewhat hard to define term that basically means the

walls and floors and air inside the building are too humid, allowing

bacteria to grow.

" It's very frustrating because of the fact that we want our campus

back, " said Key Middle School parent Gloria .

While it's left HISD's experts awfully confused, they do admit more

maintenance at Key would've helped.

" We had maintenance issues with our HVAC system that needed to be

fixed, " said on.

Key Middle School isn't unique at all when it comes to maintenance

or mold. We dug into HISD mold reports and found 18 schools

complaining about mold this school year; some small problems, some

with huge mold issues. Chatham elementary had a dozen classrooms

that had to be professionally cleaned from mold.

In report after report on mold, the same problem emerges. Air

conditioners need more maintenance and it doesn't always appear it's

getting done. Most noticeably at Chatham elementary school, where a

district report states " the mold situation...has grown exponentially

since...December 2006. Risk management has recommended in several

previous investigations that the air conditioners be adjusted, but

the problem still persists " and " It is believed units are not being

properly maintained and operated. "

" I want to have the confidence that my crews are doing what they're

supposed to be doing, " said on.

But on, the head of HISD's maintenance division, admits his

confidence level in the district's maintenance is as high as it

should be.

" I am not where I want to be, " said on.

" How so? " we asked.

" I want to be able to sleep at night knowing it's been done, " he

said.

And while HISD is coming up with a plan to fix Key, they're not

exactly certain what needs to be done yet. And they aren't certain

it can be finished by January.

It doesn't make it any easier for parents to ever send their kids

back to the allegedly sick school they left behind.

" Not if it's not a safe place, " said parent

ez. " They need to make it a safe place. "

A federal report is due soon, which should clear up some of the

causes of all of this. In the meantime, HISD is doing maintenance on

some of the air conditioners and trying to dry Key Middle School

out.

SEE THE REPORTS

To see the reports we found from other HISD schools, check Ted

Oberg's In Focus blog.