Jamaica Plain Gazette: Questions remain about Agassiz RX

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Questions remain about Agassiz Rx

By DAVID TABER July 24, 2009

City plans fixes; mold fears linger

Is there mold at the Agassiz School? Is it causing health problems reported

by some teachers? Why is en-rollment only at half capacity? After spending

millions correcting problems in the mid-1990s is worth it to keep working

on it?

More questions were raised than answered at a June 25 hearing of the

Boston City Council’s Committee on Education, held at the Agassiz Elementary

School at 20 Child St. on the last day of the 2008-2009 school year.

A handful of teachers and two students complained of headaches, sinus

infections, sore throats, rashes and other symptoms they said are related to

mold and poor air quality at the school. According to BPS officials, though,

there is no hard evidence connecting those health complaints to the school

building’s air.

The hearing was attended by about 60 teachers, administrators, janitors,

students and parents as well as public health advocates and city officials.

It took place in the school auditorium, which was permeated with a damp,

musty smell.

It is clear from testimony from city officials at the hearing and comments

in follow-up interviews that there are problems with the school, and that

the city is trying to address them.

A window replacement project—estimated to cost $850,000—is currently out

for bid, Joe Mulligan, deputy director of Boston’s Department of Capital

Construction, told the Gazette.

“There is some moisture infiltration,†particularly during rainstorms, “

and this will remedy that,†he said.

Additionally, he said, previous investigations indicate that the school’s

exterior walls may need mainte-nance. The walls are large prefabricated

concrete panels, and it appears that, particularly on the east side of the

building, they have “settled, shifted and separated†from each other, he

said.

The wall-shifting is the suspected culprit for water infiltration in the

cafeteria, gym and auditorium as well as a basement chemistry lab on the

east side of the building.

But at the hearing, Boston Public Schools officials steadfastly denied that

there was any evidence that the air at the Agassiz is unsafe to breathe.

Data from an independent study of the school’s air quality being conducted

by the Massachusetts Department of Health was not available in time for the

meeting and was still not available by the time the Gazette went to press.

Rob Roy, BPS’s director of facilities, said air circulation in the building

is measured constantly with sensors that measure carbon monoxide and

carbon dioxide levels. Carbon dioxide levels in the school are regularly within

“

the 800 to 1,000 parts-per-million ballparkâ€â€”indicating that oxygen is

finding its way into the school from the outside, he said.

He said regular mold testing—conducted bi-annually at all BPS school

buildings—indicate that levels are not significantly different from “ambient

levels†in outdoor air.

A fact sheet issued by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—

available at www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/sbs.html—cites poor air circulation as a

cause

of sick building-related health com-plaints. It also says bacteria, molds,

pollen and viruses allowed to grow in stagnant water can lead to physical

symptoms including “cough, chest tightness, fever, chills, muscle aches

and..mucous membrane irritation.†Inhaling mold spores can also trigger an

asthma attack, according to the EPA web site.

In the indoor air quality fact sheet, the EPA pans air quality testing in

most cases, saying: “Contami-nant concentration levels rarely exceed

existing standards and guidelines even when occupants continue to report health

complaints...[A]ny sampling strategy should be based on a comprehensive

understanding of how the building operates and the nature of the complaints.â€

A handful of teachers and two students testified at the hearing that they

had experienced health issues they believe are related to air-quality at the

school.

Pam Winters, a long-time teacher at the school, said at the hearing, “The

quality of the air in the school is still bad,†10 years after the city

spent of millions of dollars installing a new roof and in-stalling new heating

and cooling systems to replace rooftop units that often allowed water to

enter the building.

McLaughlin, the elementary schools field representative for the

Boston Teachers Union (BTU), of-fered testimony that the BTU had hired a

consultant to perform an independent study of air-quality at the school. That

study indicated that while there were elevated levels of mold, there was “no

egregious mold,†he said.

McLaughlin is concerned, he said, that water seeping into the walls over

the years might have created a fertile environment for mold.

He also said interviews with teachers by conducted by the consultants

indicated, “There is definitely something going on,†But the study did not

determine what it was.

BTU spokesperson Crawford did not respond to Gazette requests for

comment on or access to the study. He told the Gazette the union is not a

party to the Agassiz teachers’ current complaints.

Mulvey-sen who has worked on issues around “sick buildings†for

close to the last decade—and before that was an aide to former City

Councilor Maura Hennigan, who advocated for the last round of im-provements at

the

Aggasiz—said at the hearing that, “It makes no sense that there is no

mold and all this water infiltration.â€

Another advocate—Tolle Graham, Healthy Schools Coordinator at the

Massachusetts Coalition for Occupa-tional Safety and Health (MassCOSH)—told

the

Gazette that testing might not be that useful. “Mold testing is where it gets

really, really tricky. Independent consultants and environmental technicians

say the best thing to do [if you suspect mold] is just get rid of the

source of moisture....you could swipe three sur-faces and mold could be hiding

under the floor.â€

In her testimony and speaking to the Gazette, Graham said the windows had

been identified as a problem at the school in the last round of maintenance

close to a decade ago. “To wait 10 years to replace the windows even though

you knew they were a problem seems to me very irresponsible,†she said at

the hearing.

For his part, City Councilor Tobin—co-sponsor of the hearing with City

Councilor Chuck —told the Gazette he was left wanting more

information after the hearing.

“I wish more teachers would have testified,†he said, noting that he had

heard complaints from multiple sources.

Tobin and others have speculated that concerns about air quality at the

school are part of the reason only around half of the Aggasiz’s about 900

seats are filled.

At the hearing BPS Chief Operating Officer Goar denied that a

direct connection could be drawn between environmental conditions at the

Agassiz

and enrollment. He did not elaborate beyond saying “I don’t think there

is any evidence indicating that [individual enrollment decisions have to do

with] anything we are discussing here today.â€

A few students testified about experiencing health problems at the hearing,

and that made at least one teacher uncomfortable. She said the testimony

the students delivers was written in a classroom taught by a teacher who was

involved in air-quality advocacy at the school.

“Fight the battle for better air quality and better schools, but please do

not use children as pawns,†she said.

The hearing ended with a recess, and councilors said they plan to reconvene

in the fall to review state DPH data and gather more testimony.

Despite the inconclusive evidence, City Councilor Connolly, who heads

the education committee, told the Gazette he believes there are serious

problems at the school.

“All it says to me is that [bPS has] not been able to put their finger on

what’s wrong,†he said.

Both Connolly and Tobin said they are still open to the idea of abandoning

the current Agassiz building.

“My gut tells me a new structure or a new location would be ideal,â€

Connolly told the Gazette. “We have invested a lot of time and a lot of money

trying to improve the school, but for whatever reason nothing seems to be

improving, and we can’t figure out why.â€

The hearing was a follow up to an April City Council hearing about air

quality in schools throughout the BPS system. At the April hearing, City

Councilor Flaherty, who is running for mayor, called “for a

comprehensive tracking system that simultaneously shows the audit results with

corresponding student asthma rates so that accurate assessments can be made and

budget priorities can be assigned to those repair needs posing the greatest

risk to student health,†according to press materials.

Flaherty reiterated that call at the recent hearing.

Connolly told the Gazette that he believes maintaining “sick†buildings

will become an increasingly im-portant city issue in the future.

“The movement around greening buildings and retrofitting them will probably

call more attention to it in the future,†he said. “And with the passage

of time old buildings are just going to get sicker. Hopefully there will be

a big movement to retrofit and green and clean structures.â€

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