Update - Parents' modular tests find high mold levels

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Parents' modular tests find high mold levels

Greenwich Post - Greenwich,CT*

Written by Ken Borsuk, Staff Reporter

June 11, 2008

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Testing of the modular classrooms paid for by a group of Hamilton

Avenue School parents found high levels of mold in the air outside

the building and dangerous levels inside what had once been the

school's media center.

According to the report, the tests conducted by the New York-based

environmental health and safety firm Leighton Associates, Inc.,

found there were " very heavy " levels of aspergillus/penicillium-like

mold growth, chaetomium mold growth and ulocladium mold growth in

the carpeting for Room Six in the modulars. That room served as the

school's media center until this past year, when it was converted to

a pre-kindergarten room.

The testing also looked at the outside of the modulars and the crawl

space. According to the findings, there was 1,100 counts of

aspergillus/penicillium per cubic meter of air outside the building

and of 96,000 in the crawl space underneath it, as well as 3,600 and

120,000 counts of basidiospores outside and underneath, respectively.

" I have never seen outdoor levels that high, " Leighton, who

did the testing, told the Post on Wednesday.

Former Hamilton Avenue School PTA President DiBella, who was

present at the time of the testing, called these

numbers " astronomically high " and said she had looked underneath the

building herself, calling it " nightmarish " because of the visible

mold growth.

Aspergillus/penicillium mold can produce mycotoxins that can cause

disease in humans or act as allergens. Chaetomium mold has been

linked in some studies to neurological diseases or cancer, though

there is not scientific agreement on its impact. Ulocladium mold has

been known to trigger asthma and hay fever and, in rare occasions,

tissue damage. It is unclear how much exposure students and faculty

had to the mold, but the school board has insisted its testing has

shown no one was in danger from air quality.

Parent Mina Bibeault told the Post that she was in one way surprised

about how much mold was underneath the school and the impact it had

on the air level, but in another way not surprised because she and

other parents did not believe the school board's tests had been

thorough. She pointed out the air quality outside had a direct

impact on the people inside the building because whenever someone

turned on the air conditioning or opened a window or door, the

contaminated air was brought in. Mr. Leighton said this is a theory

he has too, but there is no evidence to prove it.

The report found there was not a significant air quality contaminant

in the rooms tested. However, since the classrooms had already been

emptied of all contents, furniture, furnishings and other material

and there had already been a " thorough " cleaning, including the

replacement of dropped ceiling acoustical panels, " ... the air

testing data may not have accurately reflected airborne mold spore

exposure to students, faculty and staff in this building during the

time the facility was operating as a school. "

The evaluation was privately funded by a group of close to 35

parents, representing 64 children at the school. Since the first

official announcement of the mold, many parents had asked the board

for the chance to do their own independent testing because they

believed they weren't getting full and accurate results and

information from the school board.

According to the board, initial testing done by Schwartz of

Environmental Assessments and Solutions, Inc., found the mold had

not contaminated the interior of the building and the air quality

was in " an acceptable range. " The board said those results were

reviewed and confirmed by the town's Department of Health and a

second company called Hygenix.

An agreement was ultimately reached between parents and the board to

allow additional testing, only if the board could also bring in a

firm to do testing of every area the parents tested. The agreement

said the parents' firm could go into only certain areas in the

modulars, which are scheduled to be remediated for Glenville School

students to use next year.

Students were removed from the modulars in the first week of March

after the board made the mold findings public.

Leighton Associates' testing and the board's simultaneous testing

was done on May 9. The Leighton report was first issued to parents

on June 3 and given to the school board this week. It was released

to the media on Wednesday, after the parents did not get a response

from the board within 72 hours of receiving it. Results of the

school's additional testing have yet to be released to the public.

" This report is a contradiction of the board's findings, " Ms.

Bibeault said of the parents' testing, compared to initial school

board tests. " This is not a mild presence of mold like the board's

report said. These are severe levels we're talking about. "

Mr. Leighton said the results do not contradict Mr. Schwartz's

findings because when he did his testing, he found half of the

classrooms in the modulars had unacceptable levels of air quality

and only after they were cleaned and furniture and furnishings

removed did the levels become acceptable.

The furnishings, furniture and supplies that were removed were put

into storage containers near the modulars. Ms. DiBella said parents

wanted to test the contents of the containers, but weren't allowed.

Now that the results are in, Ms. DiBella said the immediate first

step for parents is to bring the information to doctors.

" These results at least give us something to take to our children's

doctors and say to them that this is what our kids have been exposed

to and what they should test for, " Ms. DiBella said. " Then we'll

know if our kids still have this in their systems.

" If it's in them, then we're going to find out what we can do to get

them better. "

Ms. Bibeault said her children had tested positive for exposure to

some of the molds listed in the report and said other parents would

have different results because there is no universal reaction. She

compared it to some people being allergic to peanuts and others not

having any reaction.

Ms. DiBella said the parents would also soon be in communication

with their attorney, New Jersey-based Ray Carroll.

Ms. Bibeault said she expected the matter to end up in court to

determine who was negligent in the matter.

Members of the school board have said they were not aware of the

mold problem until Feb. 29, but Ms. Bibeault said she believes it

was earlier.

Mr. Carroll could not be reached for comment.

Kim Eves, director of communications for the school district, said

on Wednesday that Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg had not

seen either the parents' report or the most recent report done by

the board.

Board of Education Chairwoman Weissler said she had not seen

the report either and referred comment to Vice Chairwoman

Moriarty, who could not be reached by the Post.

Check back to Greenwich-post.com for updates. Full coverage will be

available in next week's issue.