Mold problem kept quiet Growth never tested for toxicity before abatement

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Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008

Mold problem kept quiet

Growth never tested for toxicity before abatement

Centre Daily Times - Centre,PA*

By Dena ing- dpauling@...

http://www.centredaily.com/news/local/story/467189.html

BELLEFONTE — At the beginning of a three-year renovation of the

Bellefonte Area High School in 2005, workers began an asbestos

removal project and uncovered something unusual.

Patches of black mold — enough to lead to an 800-square-foot

abatement project by an environmental contractor — were discovered

above a plaster ceiling on the roof deck of a first-floor hallway

near the high school's old wrestling room.

There is no legal requirement to do so, but experts suggest

informing building occupants when significant mold growth is found.

The district did not notify parents, teachers or school board

members.

The effects mold exposure can have on health depend on the type of

mold and individuals' sensitivies or allergies. Symptoms can include

asthma attacks, allergic reactions, and eye, skin, nose throat or

lung irritation. Some mold is toxic; some is not.

No testing was done on the mold found at Bellefonte to determine

what type it was. School administrators do not know what caused it.

A district health worker did not recall any reports of health

problems that could be associated with the mold.

The Centre Daily Times learned of the mold last fall from district

employees who asked not to be named. When first asked about the

mold, Director of Physical Plant Barto denied the school ever

had a mold problem. In response to a request for documents, the

district initially failed to disclose the existence of a contract

for abatement of the mold.

Barto acknowledged the problem in February, after the CDT obtained

photographs of the mold from a source.

That abatement contract, air-quality reports, inquiries, interviews

and other research over the past five months still leave many

questions unanswered: What actually caused the mold? What was done

to prevent it from happening again? What do puzzling results of air

quality tests taken in 2005 mean? " All I'm saying is I don't

remember everything. It was found. It was abated, " Barto said in a

February interview.

Discovery and abatement

The black mold was found in mid-August 2005 when the ceilings of a

hallway were removed as part of an asbestos project, Barto said in

an interview in the superintendent's office.

" That's like, if you look at this ceiling here, and you took this

ceiling down and you look up against the roof, that is where it

was, " he said.

Barto spoke during an interview in February in Superintendent J. Tom

Masullo Jr.'s office, where he was shown photos of the mold near an

air duct dated Aug. 15, 2005. He provided a copy of the abatement

contract and a 2005 air quality report that he said he'd overlooked

in his files earlier.

He answered questions for about 20 minutes before becoming visibly

upset and leaving.

" I don't know if you realize what has gone on the last three years.

But I've had a ton of things going on, " he said. " And I don't always

remember to do it, you know. We aren't required to do it (air-

quality testing). I just had it done. "

Barto said he suspected a roof leak was to blame for the mold.

" Who knows how long it was in there? " Barto said of the mold. " It

was not visible underneath. If we had a roof leak coming down

through there, we would have known. But there was nothing in that

hallway. "

After the mold was discovered, Barto called Penoco Inc., a Pleasant

Gap asbestos abatement contractor, to assess the situation. " They

looked at it. They said, `yep, it's mold,' " he said. " They abated

it. "

The abatement cost $3,869.

Penoco President J. Sommer signed the contract. When

contacted by the Centre Daily Times, he initially denied doing a

mold abatement project at the high school. He then declined to

comment.

The contract, dated Aug. 24, 2005, called for removal of an 800-

square-foot patch of drywall paper that was " stained " and

had " significant evidence of mold growth. "

The work was to be completed in three daylight shifts, and the area

was to be placed under negative pressure containment with all air

being HEPA-filtered and exhausted to the outside, the contract

states.

" After drywall paper removal and disposal, the existing, exposed top

face (underside) of the roof deck system will be sanitized to remove

mold residue. Surfaces will then be coated with an anti-microbial

encapsulant to limit future mold growth, " the contract states. The

contract doesn't specify what chemicals or products were to be used

or how they were to be applied.

Notification urged

Spraying, or sanitizing, is " never ever an acceptable substitute for

removal of moldy materials, " said Friedman, of Poughkeepsie,

N.Y., an independent indoor air-quality professional with more than

20 years experience in mold field investigations and lab services.

Friedman reviewed the contract and photographs of the mold at the

request of the CDT.

There are no federal standards for airborne concentrations of mold

or mold spores, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nor are public schools subject to Occupational Safety and Health

Administration standards.

OSHA does offer guidelines, and the EPA provides an online guidebook

specifically addressing mold in schools.

Both government agencies, Friedman and W. Ed Montz Jr., president of

Pottstown-based Indoor Air Solutions and an independent mold expert

with more than a decade of experience, recommend notifying building

occupants when a significant problem exists.

" Effective communication with building occupants is an essential

component of all large-scale remediation efforts, " OSHA suggests.

Mold abatement projects between 30 to 100 square feet are considered

large by the agency. The abatement project in Bellefonte covered 800

square feet.

Meeting minutes from July to December 2005 show no record of the

school board being informed. Board President Lumley-Sapanski,

who was on the board at the time, did not return phone calls.

Masullo said no one was trying to hide the situation and there are

no regulations that require notification.

" I keep the board pretty informed on things, " Masullo said. " I don't

even recall that I knew about it at the time. "

The Penoco contract would have been part of the overall budget for

the $35 million high school renovation project and did not need

school board approval, Masullo said.

Minutes of a meeting of the school safety committee, which consists

of Barto and staff members, show the committee reviewed the mold on

Aug. 24.

" The mold appeared to be dry and may have been from many years prior

but will be removed regardless, " state the minutes, posted on the

district Web site. The subject wasn't discussed further.

Air-quality reports

Although not required by law, Bellefonte has conducted

indoor/outdoor mold air-quality testing at the high school almost

annually in recent years. In 2005, it conducted three air quality

tests — one routine test, and two tests prompted by the mold

discovery. The results are puzzling.

On Aug. 29, 2005, an employee of Penn Ecosystems Inc., of Lock

Haven, took air samples in areas of the hallway where mold abatement

was to take place later that week, the report states.

A few days later on Sept. 2, a different employee conducted post-

abatement testing in the same area and in or near six additional

classrooms.

The desired outcome is to have lower mold spore counts indoors than

outdoors.

Pre-abatement, Penn Ecosystems recorded a spore count of 1,100 in

the east end of the hallway and 320 in the west end. The outside

count was 760.

Post-abatement testing showed a spore count of 1,400 in the east end

and 2,200 in the west end. Both counts were higher than the first

outside sample but lower than the second outdoor sample of 3,800

taken days later.

It is " a bit suspicious " but not a surprise, Friedman said after

reviewing the report on the 2005 tests.

" If inadequate dust containment measures were used, we would expect

higher subsequent counts because the `cleaning' process greatly

agitates whatever dust or mold is present in the items being

disturbed, " he said.

" The report gives only total mold counts, " Friedman

added, " permitting any wild interpretation anyone may wish to make,

since we don't have any idea just what mold was being found. "

The classrooms tested show post-abatement spore counts ranging from

1,400 to 3,000.

Montz, who also reviewed the report, said a second outside air

sample would have been helpful, given the differences in pre- and

post-abatement spore counts. Perhaps the mold levels outside that

day truly were much higher than just a few days prior, he said. " Two

samples would have helped give some insight, " he said, " and they

don't have it. "

He said he doesn't like to see the " kind of levels they saw in the

classrooms. "

" Three thousand spores in Room 60 is quite a few spores, " Montz

said. " I don't think I would have said, `all is clear.' I would have

gone back. I don't know that I would have dismissed it with the wave

of the hand. "

Mold not tested

The Penn Ecosystems report concluded that there " doesn't appear to

be an airborne mold issue in the areas of abatement " because the

inside levels are " very close " to the level outside.

a Akeley, president of Penn Ecosystems, said Thursday that no

mold problem exists unless the spore counts inside are at least

twice as high as the outside counts. More than one outside sample is

not necessary, she said.

She could not say for sure why six additional classrooms were

sampled after abatement but not before.

Of the five or six school districts in central Pennsylvania that her

company has worked with, Bellefonte is one of the " most proactive, "

Akeley said.

" They (the other districts) generally will not touch mold. They just

don't like to do it, " she said. " It brings about liability issues. "

Bellefonte did not conduct an air-quality test in 2006; results from

a 2007 test showed spore counts ranging from 40 to 400 inside the

high school and 240 outside the building.

The 2005 report makes no reference to the mold ever being cultured

to determine what type it was.

In most cases, that's unnecessary. But in certain instances — if the

source of the mold contamination is unclear, health concerns are

raised or information is needed to determine if an area has been

adequately cleaned — sampling can be helpful, according to the EPA.

The EPA recommends that schools include in any abatement project

steps to fix the water or moisture problem that caused the mold.

If the mold came from a roof leak, it's possible that the issue was

addressed during renovations, which are expect to continue into

April. But nothing in Bellefonte's air-quality report or contract

indicates what was done to prevent it from recurring.

" Mold is mold. When it is seen like this, you just have it abated, "

Barto said. The mold itself didn't need to be tested, he added, and

testing is not required.

Masullo said air-quality tests done in prior years did not raise any

concerns.

Montz's company, Indoor Air Solutions, has conducted mold

remediation at numerous schools in the past 20 years. Overplaying

and underplaying mold problems to the community are both wrong, he

advises.

" Don't bury your head in the sand, " he said. " Just say, `Hey, we

have a problem,' own up to it, and here's how we are fixing it. " The

mold area had to be chronically wet, Montz said after reviewing the

pictures, and someone should have known of the moisture problem.

" The one reassuring thing — the visible mold is now gone. The source

material is now in the Dumpster somewhere. That is a step in the

right direction, " he said. " But do we know the full story here? Not

really. "

Dena ing can be reached at 231-4619

Photo provided

This photo shows the mold that was uncovered at the Bellefonte Area

High School in August 2005. Penoco Inc. of Pleasant Gap removed it

on Aug. 31, 2005. Unbeknownst to the parents and the school board at

the time, an 800-square foot area was abated. The mold was located

in a first-floor hallway roof deck near the old wrestling room.

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Health effects of mold exposure