Mold shuts Brownsville schools, costs millions

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Feb. 4, 2002, 2:36PM

Displaced and dismayed

Mold shuts Brownsville schools, costs millions

By JAMES PINKERTON

Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Rio Grande Valley Bureau

BROWNSVILLE -- Schools should be bustling this time of year, but in the Rio

Grande Valley many sit quietly.

The discovery of mold has forced more than 3,200 students into temporary

classrooms for months at a time and prompted millions of dollars worth of

cleanups.

(Photo) German / Special to the Chronicle

Aiken Elementary School students Basilio Guerrero, 8, Julio Amador, 9, and

Xenia Cruz, 9, from left, wait for classmates to get off a bus at the

entrance to their temporary campus last week.

The mold infestations also have prompted a spate of lawsuits, including a

$20 million settlement at a high school where 1,600 students and staff say

they were harmed by mold.

School districts are suing the companies that built the schools and

installed the air conditioning units, accusing them of negligence. Parents,

students, teachers and staff are suing, too, contending the mold has made

them sick.

Other public buildings also have been affected. A county health clinic in

Port Isabel was shuttered Jan. 17 after workers noticed splotches of mold

growing in the clinic and complained of hay fever-like symptoms.

Around the Valley, law firms are advertising on radio, television and

billboards for clients to file lawsuits. The advertisements exhort potential

litigants to file lawsuits soon before a cap on residential mold-related

damages takes effect by January 2003.

Mold is by no means a problem unique to the Valley.

In Austin over the weekend, school district voters approved a $49.3 million

bond issue to pay for mold removal and preventive maintenance in 91 schools.

The Texas Department of Health said at least 10 school districts have

reported mold problems in the last year.

" This is not limited to the Valley -- it's widespread throughout the

southern half of the United States, " said Rene , an attorney from

Pharr. He has represented three school districts in mold-related litigation.

A number of things contributed to the mold problem in the Valley.

blames the design of some recently constructed buildings. They were

not built with moisture in mind, he said.

" In my opinion, the people who are constructing the buildings are not taking

into consideration the humidity factor down here, " he said. " In some cases,

they bring down designs that are intended for dry weather and bring them

into humid environments and that's when you have problems. "

Quade Stahl, chief of the Indoor Air Quality Branch of the Texas Department

of Health, said changes in construction techniques also contributed to the

problem.

Mold can feed on the gypsum wallboard that is used in most buildings, he

said. Plaster was not as conducive to mold growth, he said.

Carpeting can be a breeding ground for mold, Stahl said. Older public

buildings did not have carpeted floors.

The widespread use of flat roofs also contributes, Stahl said, because they

increase the difficulty of tracking down leaks.

There are no state or federal air quality standards for mold, Stahl said. He

said school districts can takes several steps to head off the problems.

" One would be to prevent or fix water leaks or damage, and two, maintain the

humidity below 60 percent at all times -- 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, "

he said.

Better building methods might also contribute to mold growth by eliminating

drafts and keeping moisture from evaporating.

Some blame the school.

" When I find a mold problem, I find (air-conditioning) operators who don't

know what they are doing, " said a consultant for attorneys defending

contractors and air-conditioning companies.

The Brownsville school district has probably been the hardest hit by mold of

any in the Valley.

An elementary school and a middle school have been closed since Christmas

for mold cleanup. Officials said 1,800 students have been displaced. Those

who could not be placed in other buildings are attending classes in 61

portable buildings set up on parking lots and soccer fields.

The cleanup has cost the district $917,000 so far. Drue Brown, of the

district's public information office, said officials have no idea how long

the project will take or how much it will ultimately cost.

Middle school Principal Guadalupe Leal said students and teachers are making

the best of a bad situation.

" We may be a little crowded in certain areas but other than that we're doing

OK, " he said.

The district filed a lawsuit against the eight companies that built or

supplied the air-conditioning units for the schools on Jan. 7.

More than 470 parents and teachers filed similar lawsuits and are also suing

the eight companies that built the schools and installed the

air-conditioning systems. There are 477 plaintiffs in the personal lawsuits,

said attorney Zavaletta.

He said mold has been a recurrent problem at the elementary school since

1997.

Zavaletta said the health of many of his clients has improved in the weeks

since the schools closed.

In nearby San Benito, mold was discovered in an elementary and middle school

last summer.

A $1.4 million cleanup is about 95 percent complete at the elementary

school, said Barrus, executive assistant to the superintendent. The

cleanup at the middle school will cost $4.4 million, Barrus said.

As in Brownsville, classes were moved to portable buildings during the

cleanups. The district is suing three air-conditioning contractors.

The small, rural school district in Santa had to relocate 350 high

school students to an 80-year-old elementary school because of mold. The

high school has been closed since May when mold was discovered in all its

classrooms, and remediation efforts are proceeding slowly.

A $23 million high school in Alamo had not been open long when mold was

discovered. The Pharr-San -Alamo school district sued its contractors,

and the case was settled last June for more than $20 million.

The health claims of 1,600 students and school personnel are pending.

The recent spate of lawsuits in the Valley is just the beginning, the

consultant predicted.

" These problems are present in most school districts, this is just the tip

of the iceberg, " he said.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1239020