California Educator - Teachers' complaints force shutdown of moldy school

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Teachers' complaints force shutdown of moldy school

Hidden in classroom walls or growing in plain view on windows and

water-damaged ceiling tiles, the hazardous molds lurking at the 33-year-old

Crescent Elementary School in Solano County are what teachers believe caused

them to come down with a rash of ugly illnesses last year.

School district officials took too long to act on the health complaints,

downplayed their significance, and even warned teachers not to discuss their

illnesses with parents, charge members of the Fairfield-Suisun Unified

Teachers Association (FSUTA).

Third-grade teacher Aldrich-Skeen suffered from migraine headaches,

asthma, burning eyes and fatigue and blames the molds.

" The kids were getting sick too, " she says.

Her colleague, Marjorie Steplight, had a hacking cough for more than two

years, along with chest pain, diarrhea and shortness of breath. " One of my

students had an asthma attack at school and had to be taken away in an

ambulance, " she recalls.

Health concerns were so bad at year-round Crescent School in Suisun City

that the school board shut it down for a three-week period ending Dec. 14

for inspection and cleaning, forcing about 500 students to miss school. The

shutdown came only after teachers and parents clamored for action at a

packed school board meeting on Nov. 19.

Flanked by other angry teachers, Steplight told the school board on that

emotional evening, " Please do what's right and close the school tonight. "

The shutdown sent shock waves through the community that are still

reverberating.

Today, removed from classrooms contaminated with mold, both Steplight and

Aldrich-Skeen say they're free of their ailments. But like several other

FSUTA members, they're angry that the school district didn't take their

health complaints seriously in the first place and move quickly to test more

thoroughly.

While most of the campus was reopened in December, two main buildings

remained closed at press time in mid-January and were not expected to reopen

for some time due to the cleanup schedule. A potentially toxic mold was

found inside the walls of the Hall and Scally buildings, which house

classrooms, a library and administrative offices.

School district officials acted as promptly as they could on health

complaints and did not hide information, says Tom Chalk, director of general

services for the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District. He figures the

district will end up spending about $1.5 million to make Crescent safe and

to install new heating and ventilation equipment.

Costs so far include the cleaning of 17 portable classrooms immediately

after the school board shut the school down. At least four had mold-related

problems, says Chalk. Six had water-damaged ceiling tiles and other damaged

materials, according to a report issued by a consultant hired to clean the

portable rooms.

Tests show the mold in the two sealed main buildings is Stachybotrys

chartarum. A greenish-black fungus that grows slowly, it can be dangerous

because some strains produce toxins that suppress the immune system. Chronic

exposure can result in cold and flu symptoms, sore throats, diarrhea,

headaches, fatigue and dermatitis, says Sandy McNeel, a research scientist

with the state Department of Health Services' environmental health

investigations branch office in Oakland.

McNeel, who has handled what she describes as a growing number of

school-related mold issues over the years, says certain species of another

mold found at the school, aspergillus, can cause pneumonia when inhaled by

people with severely weakened immune systems.

" Our emphasis is that no mold is a safe mold, " McNeel stresses. " It is our

feeling that any mold - particularly if it's visible in an indoor

environment - is a potential health hazard. "

School health problems nationwide are such a concern that the federal

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a free kit to help

teachers police their own classrooms to improve indoor air quality. Part of

the kit is a six-page teacher's checklist covering topics like excess

classroom moisture, drain traps, ventilation, exhaust fans and fume hoods.

[To order a free kit, call Sid Efross at the federal EPA office in San

Francisco, (415) 744-1049.]

What did Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District officials know in 1998 and

when did they know it?

California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/ OSHA)

conducted an inspection April 24 after Crescent teachers, tired of getting

sick at work, called them in. As a result, Cal/OSHA issued a safety citation

Oct. 16 because " visible mold was viewed on sections of the window inside

Classroom 23 " of the Hall Building, one of the two structures still sealed

off in January.

The district did not contest the citation. It faces possible further

citations if a review of sick teachers' medical records shows that safety

and health standards were violated, says Cal/OSHA spokesman Dean Fryer.

Crescent teachers mailed a list to Cal/OSHA of 16 teachers' recent health

ills. A copy of the list shows that four teachers suffered pneumonia and 10

had either asthma or bronchitis problems. Headaches, sinus infections, sore

throats, diarrhea and fatigue are also noted.

Some bad feelings linger at Crescent, especially over the fact that Crescent

Principal Blanca Silvas had told teachers twice, in staff meetings on Sept.

30 and Oct. 30, not to discuss their health concerns with parents during

parent-teacher conferences. Some did anyway.

Teachers feel their early complaints about sicknesses being work-related

were ignored for too long, says FSUTA President Laurel Salerno-White.

" The district kept telling us that we were wrong, " she says. " It came to the

point where they told teachers not to tell parents of their health

concerns. "

Teacher solidarity really made a difference in this crisis, says

Salerno-White. She and fellow teachers credit CTA primary contact staff Ben

Ridlon with getting the issue before the public by alerting local media and

testifying at the school board meeting.

Despite all their efforts, some Crescent teachers wonder if they are still

at risk.

Not Trudy Dowling. She resigned on Dec. 10, three weeks after finding out

she was pregnant.

After suffering bronchitis, sinus infections, loss of her voice and

breathing problems at Crescent, she decided not to finish her long-term,

full-time substitute teaching assignment, opting instead, she says, to

protect herself and her unborn child.

Mike Myslinski