State up front on school air quality

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State up front on school air quality

Office helps W.Va. students breathe easier

Sam Tranum <samt@...>

Daily Mail Capitol reporter

Saturday February 02, 2002; 10:13 AM

Tom Fanning got his job as director of maintenance for McDowell County's

schools in July, just before floodwaters ripped through Southern West

Virginia.

How's that for luck?

Half a year later, things are finally getting back to normal for McDowell

County's schools. Kimball Elementary is set to reopen fully Monday, Fanning

said.

The downstairs has been closed, Fanning said.

" We've had kids in modular units since August, " he said.

Part of the reason it has taken so long to get Kimball and other

flood-damaged schools up and running again is a fear of mold, mildew and

fungus, said Bill Elswick, executive director of the state's Office of

School Facilities.

Luckily, West Virginia is on the cutting edge as far as school air quality

goes, so Elswick and others knew just what to do.

" We had to take it back to block and steel to sanitize it, " Elswick said.

" It wasn't cheap. "

If the mold was allowed to grow, when students got back to school they would

likely have turned up with health problems like scratchy throats or coughs,

Elswick said.

Indoor air quality hazards like mold, mildew and fungus are no small problem

for the nation's schools. A 1995 report from the federal General Accounting

Office indicated there were air quality problems in 50 percent of America's

schools.

West Virginia has for years been on the forefront of the struggle against

bad air in school.

" I don't mean to sound boastful, but we're the best there is, " Elswick said

of his team.

Concerned schools call in Elswick's team, which can identify air quality

problems and advise on how to solve them. These recommendations can range

from renovations to just teaching maintenance workers how best to operate

the schools' heating and cooling equipment.

" We go out there where students are and make sure they have the best

environment to learn, " he said.

Elswick said the state's school indoor air quality program won a national

award from the federal Environmental Protection Agency last summer.

" If we're not the leader in the nation, we're probably tied for first, " he

said.

Don Chapman, coordinator for school health education, said that keeping

indoor air clean is essential to providing West Virginia's kids with a good

education. Mold, dust, fungus or other air quality problems can aggravate

asthma, for example, he said.

" If a child has asthma, regardless of what causes it, any kind of condition

that has dust or mildew will enhance or create a more serious condition, " he

said. " It does get in the way of learning. "

Ellswick's team isn't the only one doing air quality assessments in West

Virginia. There is also a private market for the service.

Companies like sburg's MSES Consultants do air quality assessments for

industry, offices and schools.

" We will typically be doing an indoor air quality review in a school pretty

much on a once-a-month basis, " said MSES Vice President Keeling.

" If there's a staff or student complaint, they'll ask us to come in, "

Keeling said. " Sometimes it's something; sometimes it's not. "

The number of calls for air quality assessments for schools and other

buildings has been increased in recent years, Keeling said.

" The analytical ability that we have today to identify some of these

organisms is greater than years ago, " he said.

Also, construction methods have changed, in some cases creating conditions

that can cause air quality concerns.

And then there's what Keeling calls the " voodoo-science " explanation:

Americans' changing diets are making them more sensitive to some air quality

hazards.

" People, possibly because of other lifestyle habits might not be immune as

they were 20 years ago, " he said.

Writer Sam Tranum can be reached at 348-5149.