Boston City Council hearing order on schools with mold and health data

[Guest guest]

This order was filed at the Boston City Council meeting this past

Wednesday, May 20, 2009. No date for a hearing has been scheduled yet.

Mulvey son

City of Boston

In City Council

Order of Councillors Chuck and Flaherty

Hearing Order on Use of Health Data to Identify Schools that have Mold

Problems

Whereas, the Boston Public School System has had an ongoing problems with

the build up to mold and development of air quality problems, resulting many

believe in respiratory problems on the part of students and teachers; and

Whereas, problems at the Agassiz School in 1996 led to the development of

an ordinance by former Councilor Hennigan which requires twice yearly

inspections of the schools; and

Whereas, in 2003, the School Department, Public Health Commission, and

Boston Asthma Coalition coming together as the Boston Healthy Schools Task

Force implemented an ongoing once a year inspection system of air quality and

mold at each school; and

Whereas, at a May hearing on relationship between BPH infrastructure

repairs and health problems, teachers from the Agassiz, Trotter, and the D.

O’ schools reported serious health problems among teachers and

students, stemming they believed from particulates effecting air quality; and

Whereas, it is critically important that the City take any and all steps

that can help us to identify mold and air quality problems within the Boston

Public Schools; and

Whereas, the state requires each school system to send data to the State

Department of Public Health each year regarding the health of every student;

and

Whereas, the matching of this data base with a data base that could be

developed through a teacher survey regarding respiratory illnesses of teachers

could help us identify schools where there are mold and air quality

problems that are not being identified by the technology being used Healthy

Schools Task Force in their yearly school inspections; Therefore Be It

Ordered, that the appropriate committee of the Boston City Council invite

representatives of the Boston Health Commission, the Boston School

Department, the Boston Teachers’ Union, and the Boston Asthma Coalition to

discuss

their views on the use of student and teacher health data to identify

schools where there are continuing mold and air quality problems unidentified by

present technology.

Docket # 0732

Filed 5/20/09

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