Update -Key avoids closure, despite health complaints

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Key avoids closure, despite health complaints

Houston Chronicle, TX*

By JENNIFER RADCLIFFE

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5775693.html

Key Middle School will remain open, Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra

announced today.

The Houston Independent School District is no longer considering an

unpopular proposal that would have moved Key students to nearby

Kashmere High School. Instead, the district will complete the $5

million worth of work that's slated for Key Middle School under the

bond that voters approved last November.

The work, which is expected to be approved by the school board on

Wednesday, will include new windows and air conditioning units,

officials said.

School Trustee Carol Mims Galloway said she's glad Saavedra is

listening to the community, which turned out in force at last week's

school board meeting to complain about the school's current

condition and to oppose the plan to move students to Kashmere.

" This is what the superintendent should do — work with the community

and the parents because they are the customers, " she said.

Key Middle School was shut for several months this school year after

numerous teachers complained of feeling sick. A report issued by the

U.S.Centers for Disease Control determined that the campus may

have " damp building syndrome " and isolated microbial growth.

Even after HISD spent $3 million trying to clean and repair the

school, educators still reported problems at the campus — prompting

Saavedra to question whether the students should be permanently

relocated.

" Key can be saved, " Galloway said. " It's a simple fix. I don't know

why all these persons who are supposed to have expertise in the area

couldn't figure it out. "

Houston Federation of Teachers president Gayle Fallon said the

school will be fine once new windows and air conditioning units are

installed.

" We want them to fix it. That's the bottom line, " she said. " They've

wasted $3 million in taxpayer money. They need to take these last

two steps, instead they painted it and scrubbed it. "

jennifer.radcliffe@...