Schools didn't follow mold policy

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Schools didn't follow mold policy

Published March 13 2008

Greenwich Time,CT*

By Hoa Nguyen

Staff Writer

http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gbetmar13,0,579474.story?

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Five years ago, when mold problems began surfacing at the old

Hamilton Avenue School and other buildings, school district

officials implemented a program to help identify and prevent similar

problems from occurring in the future.

But now they admit the program was not uniformly put into practice

across the district.

" Everyone was trained, " Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg

said of the program called Tools for Schools. " It was variably

implemented from school to school. "

Tools for Schools is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency program

designed to raise awareness about air quality issues, including

assembling committees of teachers, administrators, parents and

custodians who work together to identify early indicators of mold

and other problems.

School officials came under fire on Tuesday night from the Board of

Estimate and Taxation Budget Committee, which questioned why mold

problems discovered at the Hamilton Avenue School modular buildings

were identified only a couple of weeks ago. They should have been

more aggressive in scrutinizing possible mold situations, committee

members said, because it was mold that forced the rebuilding of the

old Hamilton Avenue School and the purchase of the $3 million

modular buildings several years ago.

" I was frankly surprised, " BET member Stone said

yesterday. " This is a lesson that clearly should have been learned

four years ago. "

Stone is calling on the district to implement a program to visually

inspect classrooms and school space on a regular basis to ensure

potential problems are caught early.

Sternberg and other officials said design and construction flaws

rather than maintenance shortcomings caused the mold problems at the

modulars. They said roof leaks reported months earlier at the

modulars were properly addressed and not connected to the mold found

inside the walls and in the roof eaves.

Still, an environmental consultant hired by the school district has

said the ceiling of one of the classrooms affected by the roof leaks

had some mold growth.

BET members said that because taxpayers are going to have to

shoulder the cost associated with this latest Hamilton Avenue School

mold problem, the district must have a better prevention plan.

" This is going to be something that we're going to have to prevent

going forward, " said Mason, head of the BET budget committee.

The district is expected to face more questions tonight during a

public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. at Central Middle School, 9

Indian Rock Lane.

Mike Bodson, the Board of Education liaison for the school's

building committee, said that during the meeting, he will give a

progress update on the new Hamilton Avenue School construction,

which has already experienced a year delay because of various

setbacks.

Town and school officials walked through the new Hamilton Avenue

School building construction site yesterday.

" People walked away with a general sense that progress is being

made, " Bodson said of the building tour, led by officials from the

general contractor, Worth Construction.

-- Staff writer Shaw contributed to this report.