Laing Middle School - Dursban Poisoning 3/23/99

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Board sues pest company

by KRISTINA TORRES

Originally Published on 3/23/99

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LAING MIDDLE SCHOOL: The ton County School Board suit stems from a

termite treatment when Dursban was mistakenly injected into two classrooms.

The ton County School Board on Monday voted to sue the exterminator

responsible for a November pesticide spill at Laing Middle School.

In other action, it strayed from a committee recommendation and instead

voted to negotiate with two construction management firms, including one

already handling construction in the district, as it looks for help with

$175 million in bond projects.

Neither of those two firms was picked by a 10-member panel of school board

members, principals and area superintendents who had been asked to rate

firms to handle the projects.

The board also restricted use of outside lawyers for district legal matters,

approved a new teacher evaluation program and asked its chairman to set up a

meeting with lawmakers to talk about how the district gets money for its

budget.

The Laing spill happened during a Nov. 12 treatment for termites, when

Willard Pest Control mistakenly injected the pesticide Dursban into two

classrooms.

Willard Pest Control paid to have the rooms cleaned five days later and

again in December after the principal complained about the persistent smell.

But parents did not hear about the spill until Jan. 29, at which point they

began vocally protesting as they pointed to health problems among students

that included flu-like symptoms and one child whose hands peeled.

``It's incumbent upon us to be smart and protective of our children,'' board

Chairman Moody said Monday.

Steve Willard, owner of the pest control company, said the matter had been

turned over to his insurance company.

``I guess they have to do what they have to do, and we have to do what we

have to do,'' Willard said. ``They may have no recourse. I think we did

everything we possibly could do.''

The district has set an April 13 meeting to allow parents to talk with state

and federal health officials. L. Lipsey, a nationally known

toxicologist, visited Laing on Monday to conduct tests.

Lipsey and other officials will review information already collected about

the spill, including reports by General Engineering Laboratories after it

took air quality samples in January and February.

The two construction management companies the board voted to negotiate with

are Columbia-based Southern Management Group and Heery/, an Atlanta

firm hired two years ago by the district to oversee ongoing construction.

The board's Property and Operations Committee had recommended that the board

negotiate only with Southern Management to oversee its $175 million

bond-funded construction program, which voters approved in November.

But Moody, making an alternate motion, suggested that it might be better to

use Heery/ to oversee $55 million worth of projects in that

program - namely, the $55 million in critical needs that the board committed

to first.

The board will negotiate the other $120 million of the program with Southern

Management.

The board voted 6-2 in favor of that alternate motion. Diane Aghapour and

Stacey Coker dissented.ninth board member, Gregg Meyers, was absent.

``I stand by Heery's work,'' said Moody, who noted during discussion that

Heery/ helped compile the list of critical needs that the district

was using. ``It makes business sense to me to keep it where it is.''

Heery/ and Southern Management were two of seven firms looking to

oversee the new construction program.

A 10-person panel that included school board members, principals and area

superintendents had originally recommended a third firm, Columbia-based M.B.

Kahn Inc., to do the whole job. But the committee went with Southern

Management after a closed meeting.

M.B. Kahn, on the point system used by the panel, beat out Southern

Management by three points. Heery/ placed fifth, 91 points behind

M.B. Kahn.

Heery/'s Mark McCormick would not comment Monday. Aghapour said the

decision could be seen as favoritism.

``This just sounds to me like we want to do the fellow a favor,'' she said.

``Their points did not even come close.''

A company spokesman for M.B. Kahn has said that it is exploring whether the

board followed its procurement procedure.

Both the new teacher evaluation program and the restriction of the use of

outside lawyers for district legal matters come on the heels of the board's

recent fight with Superintendent Chip Zullinger, who has been told his

contract won't be renewed when it expires June 30, 2000.

During the fight, Zullinger was accused of not having enough people involved

in teacher evaluations, as state law requires. Zullinger responded then that

three-member teams - which the old program used - are encouraged for

evaluations but not required.

The new program requires two-member teams.

Zullinger had also been criticized by some board members because he sought

legal advice from outside attorneys. In February, Zullinger got legal

opinions from the Childs and Halligan law firm that stated, among other

topics, that the district could legally find a way around a tax cap imposed

decades ago by area legislators.

The new policy, which will need a second vote of approval to become

official, states that ``no employee of the ton County School District

or of the Board is authorized to employ legal counsel'' on behalf of the

district without board authorization.

Zullinger will have to use the board's law firm, Rosen, Goodstein & Hagood,

for district business. The firm recently conducted an investigation of

Zullinger at the board's direction.

Board members on Monday instructed Zullinger to prepare next year's budget

based on the same tax cap he wants to get around. District officials have

already warned of a budget shortfall of as much as $1.7 million if property

tax cap stays in place.

But they also said that they would like to see a change, too. Echoing other

board members, Oliver said he'd like to meet with area legislators

to ``hash this thing out.''

``I know we need money,'' said. But, he added, the board needed to

find ``a way to do it where we don't make anyone angry.'' for help with $175

million in bond... "