Detroit Schools improve air quality

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http://www.detnews.com/2002/macomb/0206/20/c05-518459.htm

June 19, 2002

Coates / The Detroit News

At Green Acres Elementary School in Warren, workers this week began removing

asbestos-bearing ceiling and floor tiles. The school will have new heating,

ventilation and air conditioning units installed in each classroom.

Schools improve air quality

Macomb officials concerned about health

By Mike Wowk / The Detroit News

Photo: Todd McInturf / The Detroit News

Matt Alward, a worker with Quality Environmental Services, puts a plastic

cover over books in Green Acres' media center before workers remove the

ceiling tiles.

STERLING HEIGHTS -- When classes resume this fall, all Utica Community

Schools buildings, which serve 28,000 students, are expected to be

air-conditioned. And the district's neighbor to the south, Warren

Consolidated Schools, this summer will air-condition three of its older

buildings -- the first phase of a project including all of its schools.

Comfort is just partly behind the cooling efforts. Officials in both

districts, like counterparts nationwide, say such projects will improve air

quality -- and breathing -- for students and staff.

Asthma, a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes breathing

difficulty, has reached epidemic proportions in recent years, according to

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Children are particularly affected. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control

estimate that five million children are among the 15 million Americans who

suffer from asthma -- a 50-percent increase in 20 years.

Because children spend so much time in schools, government regulators

have encouraged administrators to check indoor air quality.

Warren Consolidated Assistant Superintendent Kiefer said the

district occasionally gets complaints from students and staff about asthma

or related allergic reactions. Identifying a cause is difficult at best, he

said, but the district is taking no chances.

" We're going to completely redo our heating, ventilation and air

conditioning systems in all our buildings, " Kiefer said. " Air conditioning

alone will improve the indoor air quality because we're including air

filtration systems. "

Current renovations in Warren Consolidated will cost an estimated $140

million over five years, Kiefer estimated. In addition to a $93-million bond

issue, voters there also approved a 1-mill sinking fund tax to finance

future renovations.

Schools take action

Jack Barnette, chief of EPA indoor air programs for the region that

includes Michigan, emphasized that federal efforts aimed toward schools is

purely voluntary.

" But more and more schools are interested, " he said. " With more kids

being sick and teachers complaining, it's very important that they address

these issues. "

Researchers from the University of Michigan in 1998 embarked on a

five-year, $2.4-million study to learn why children in southwest Detroit and

on the city's east side have such high rates of asthma. The study is funded

by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the EPA.

One cause of bad-air complaints in schools and other buildings may be

mold -- blamed for such diverse problems as watery eyes, bronchitis, asthma

and memory loss.

In Romeo, Washington Elementary School closed for several months last

year and its students transferred to other buildings while the district

hired contractors to remove mold.

In Portland, Maine, one elementary school was permanently closed last

year when mold was discovered.

In Macomb County's two largest districts, Utica and Warren Consolidated,

voters in the past two years have approved large bond issues -- $130 million

and $93 million, respectively -- for renovations of 30-year-old buildings.

Utica's bond issue was approved in 2000; much of the work, both

renovations and new construction, is in progress.

Air conditioning " was the No. 1 request from parents when we were

planning for our bond issue, " said Utica spokeswoman Hildy Corbett.

Warren Consolidated's bond issue was approved last fall. Work began this

week at Green Acres Elementary in Warren and Harwood and Hatherly elementary

schools in Sterling Heights.

The three were chosen as pilots because their designs typify all

elementary schools in the 15,000-student district, said Warren Consolidated

spokesman Freehan.

Causes hard to find

At Green Acres, built in 1958, workers began this week by ripping out

asbestos-bearing ceiling and floor tiles. New heating, ventilation and air

conditioning units will be placed in each classroom, along with new

energy-efficient windows and doors. The Harwood and Hatherly schools in

coming months also will get new windows, doors and heating and cooling

units.

Workers from Nova Environmental Inc. in Ann Arbor are on site at Green

Acres school to monitor air samples during the asbestos removal, said vice

president Kary Amin. His firm has done similar consulting work for other

Michigan schools.

" We've seen an increase throughout the state (in complaints) in school

buildings about asthma or allergies, " Amin said. " But it's very difficult to

find a smoking gun. There could be multiple factors, including the carpet

fibers, the ventilation in the room or even the humidity. "

Warren Consolidated installed roofing material about 12 years ago to

reduce moisture and mold in schools, said Assistant Superintendent Kiefer,

who added that the new roofs are still in great shape.

" It's like a skin. Since we installed it, we've had very few problems

with mold, " Kiefer said.

Clean air

Asthma can be triggered by either allergic or nonallergic sources:

* Allergic sources include house dust mites; mold or yeast spores;

pollen; cat hair, saliva and urine; cockroach particles; aspirin, and

metasulfite, used as a preservative in many beverages and some foods.

* Nonallergic sources include tobacco smoke; smog; natural gas, propane

or kerosene; wood smoke; coal smoke; paint fumes; viral respiratory

infections; exercise and weather changes.

Sources: American Medical Association and U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency

You can reach Mike Wowk at (586) 468-0343 or mwowk@....