Bulletin Newspapers: Hearing garners complaints, but still no answers at Agassiz

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Hearing garners complaints, but still no answers at Agassiz School

Agassiz School student Yan Reynoso is assisted by teacher

at a recent public hearing about the school.ph Mont 02.JUL.09

In a packed auditorium at the Agassiz School in Jamaica Plain, Yan

Reynoso stood at a microphone, speaking about his experiences trying to

attend what many consider a " sick building. "

" In this school, I have headaches, red eyes, sore throat, stuffy nose and

a rash, " he said, reading from comments he wrote down on a piece of paper

decorated with an American flag. " My head hurts and I do not have a lot of

energy. I am tired and have a cough. I feel like throwing up. My throat

feels weird and without air... I even feel like I am going to die because my

throat and my feet are killing me. Please build a new school that is better

and then everybody will feel healthy and good. "

Reynoso was just one of several students, teachers and parents who spoke

at an on-site City Council hearing on what have been termed as persistent

environmental problems.

According to a City Council hearing order submitted by councilors

Tobin and Chuck , problems at the Louis Agazziz Elementary School date

back to the 1980s when complaints first emerged about mold and poor air

quality.

In the 1990s, these concerns led then City Councilor Maura Hennigan to

sponsor and lead passage of an ordinance to have biannual air quality

inspections.

The hearing order discussed last Thursday, speaks of how little has been

offered as a solution in the ensuing years.

" Despite the investment of millions of dollars since the mid-nineties to

remedy environmental problems, there continue to be problems of water

infiltration, apparently leading to a continuation of mold and air quality

problems and poor environmental conditions can affect health and learning, " it

reads. " The Agassiz School student population has a high rate of children

with asthma, making them more vulnerable to poor environmental conditions and

teachers document respiratory illnesses that they believe are caused by

environmental problems. "

Of particular concern to the councilors is that the school population has

declined from a maximum enrollment of 900 students to 500. It is a decline

many blame on the environmental conditions.

" Are there federal Hope 6 grants that can go for school buildings, like

there are for public housing? " Tobin asked during a recent interview with the

Bulletin. " There is a housing project right now at Washington-Beech in

Roslindale that has been demolished and will be rebuilt with Hope 6 grants.

Not only is it going to give people who live in that development a sense of

dignity and kind of a place to call their own, the air quality is going to

be great. It is going to be a healthy building. We did that at Mission Main

a few years ago. Can we do it for a school?

" Something is wrong at the Agassiz and I don’t think it is the teaching

and learning aspect of it, " Tobin added. " There are 400 open seats. So I am

saying, word travels fast and in circles. I would be reluctant to send my

two boys to the Agassiz School. Not because of the teaching and learning, not

because of where it is, but because of everything I’ve heard. "

At the hearing, Tobin reiterated those concerns.

" Nothing has been an indictment on anyone’s job performance, " he stressed.

" Whether it be a custodian or a person who works for he administration or

the school department. It just seems like a circumstance that is beyond

people’s control. This is a building that was built at the wrong time using

the wrong materials. There are no two sides here. I think we can all agree

that despite a lot of people’s best efforts, we have a situation here that

begs examining. Like Councilor turner said, do we keep putting band-aids on

an open wound, or do we look at more drastic measures. "

" We have a very serious issue here and we don’t want the emotion and the

very real problem attached to it somehow come out as being directed at

individuals who are doing nothing but their best work every day, " said City

Councilor Connolly, who chaired the hearing.

Environmental activist Tollie Graham pushed for officials to devise a plan

of action.

" It is a shame that we are going to leave a hearing once again without

knowing what the plan is for the Agassiz School improvements, " she said. " We

know that a lot of work has been done at this school. But to wait 10 years

to replace windows that we knew were part of the environmental problem seems

very irresponsible, especially in light of hearing all this testimony

today, last year and the year before. "

Mulvey son, Hennigan’s former chief, offered a similar concern.

" This is a sick school and it has been a sick school for as long as I

remember, " she said.

The school’s principal, Cordon, said the past year seemed to yield

few complaints.

" So far this year, I have not had any complaints from parents in terms of

children not feeling well because of air quality, " she said. " It is the

same with the staff. I have not had staff come to me with, the exception of

one staff member who said she wasn’t feeling well. Other than that no one

else has come to me. "

Priscilla Winter, a teacher at the school, said that her classroom has

virtually no ventilation. She described how she has hung a feather on a string

in an effort to detect air currents.

" The feather never moves, " she said. " I don’t know if the ventilation

system is on, but we are not getting any air. We’ve had a lot of absenteeism

and I think a lot of it is health related and air related. "

" Most of the children here are children of color and I want to make sure

that as a parent and as a teacher that these kids get equality, " she added.

" I want to make sure that they get what everybody else gets, because they

deserve it.

McLaughlin, the elementary field representative for the Boston

Teacher’s Union, said conditions at the school are a bit of a mystery.

" We’ve also hired our own independent air analyst to come in and test the

air, " he said. " The company we used didn’t find any mold in their air

samplings. There was nothing that was egregious in any of these reports. In f

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