Peninsula board confronts 'sick' school building - Artondale Elementary School

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Peninsula board confronts 'sick' school building

ARTONDALE ELEMENTARY: Parents, staff members testify at highly charged board

meeting

Kris Sherman; The News Tribune

Students and staff members are still getting sick at Artondale Elementary

School near Gig Harbor, so the Peninsula School Board will consider Monday

night whether to close the environmentally ailing building again.

The board called a special meeting after more than four hours of sometimes

angry, often emotional testimony from parents and staff members Thursday

night.

Their message: People's health is being compromised. Close the school before

anymore damage is done.

This school year, parents and staff members have complained about what they

believe are building-related illnesses since October.

" My bright, articulate, 6-year-old daughter who loves school would rather

put up with a sore throat for five months " than stay out of the building,

Joanne Iverson told the board.

Despite several courses of powerful antibiotics, her daughter recently told

her, " I want to die. This throat hurts so much. "

Iverson, a registered nurse, and many of the 50 other parents and staff

members who attended the meeting say toxic mold embedded in the school's

walls, carpets and ceilings is making people sick.

Artondale was closed for eight weeks earlier this year after students and

staff members complained of headaches, sinus and respiratory troubles, itchy

eyes, rashes, and other health problems.

The district spent nearly $400,000 eradicating mold, overhauling the

ventilation system, replacing carpet with tile and cleaning the school for

what state and county indoor air-quality specialists thought was a dust

problem.

Meanwhile, Artondale's 470 students were shuttled to four other schools.

But since the building reopened April 8, 32 of 38 certificated staff members

and 50 percent of other building workers have reported problems, Peninsula

Education Association President Jon Malmin said.

More than 120 students " had documented reactions, " he said.

Fifth-grade teacher Anne Puckett told the board, " It's very difficult to

teach when I hear, 'Mrs. Puckett, I can't concentrate.' 'Mrs. Puckett, I've

got a headache.' 'Mrs. Puckett, my hands are breaking out again.'

" My husband is very concerned about me, " she added.

Puckett said life at Artondale makes her skin hurt, her lips and tongue

burn, and exacerbates food allergies.

Carl Bayha told board members: " I've had to call 911 three times in the last

six months " because his wife, Barb, an Artondale staff member, could not

breathe.

School officials are bewildered and frustrated.

" We've followed all the procedures the experts told us to follow, "

Superintendent Jim Coolican said Friday.

In a letter sent home to Artondale parents, he wrote: " I am aware of the

fact that some staff members and parents have concerns about possible

toxicity at Artondale. While I agree that the presence of a toxic substance

is reason for concern, we simply have not received any credible evidence

that supports this assertion. "

In a report dated April 16, state Labor and Industries toxicologist Steve

Whittaker wrote that a building visit " failed to discover any sources of

water or mold contamination. "

But after the community outpouring Thursday night, Coolican said the

district would collect new data to study whether unseen mold problems may be

lurking on campus.

Monday night, his administration will present options to the board, ranging

from continuing to work on the problem while children attend the school, to

closing the school until whatever problems exist are found and fixed, to

tearing the building down altogether, Coolican said.

" We did the best we could, " board member Geoff Baillie said of the earlier

cleanup. " Clearly we need to do more, and we're going to do more until we

get the job done. "

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* Staff writer Kris Sherman covers Gig Harbor. Reach her at 253-597-8659 or

kris.sherman@....

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* A special meeting of the Peninsula School Board will be held at 6:30 p.m.

Monday in the gym at Voyager Elementary School, 5615 Kopachuck Drive N.W.,

Gig Harbor.

© The News Tribune