Custodian: Moldy School Made Me Sick

August 7, 2002

FORT WORTH, Texas, 5:34 p.m. CDT July 19, 2002 - Dangerous mold is lurking

inside South Dallas' Molina High School, according to a sick faculty member

and her attorney.

School custodian is filing suit against the Dallas

Independent School District, seeking compensation for medical bills that the

pair claim are the result of exposure to dangerous mold discovered inside

the school.

According to Molina, she is now plagued with health problems that began soon

after she began working as a custodian at Molina School in August of 1999.

" I wasn't exactly sure it was mold, but I knew it was a problem the first

week I was in the building, " said.

said she suffers from blurred vision and respiratory problems, and

that she believes others have suffered similar health problems as well.

" Myself and the rest of the custodian crew all started having the same

symptoms. Eventually, we all ended up on the same medications, "

said.

According to DISD, it hired two separate hygienists to examine the building,

aside from consulting the state's department of health, and that black mold

was not identified as a problem.

" The area where we have found some mold to be growing was in the custodial

closet, and that was mainly due to lack of cleaning after the closets were

used, " said DISD representative Ramos.

However, said that by the time she had left the school for an

unrelated medical leave in January, she was taking nine different

medications. And according to her attorney, of the other reportedly ill

custodians, is suffering most.

That's why, according to , she believes the school is a health hazard

that needs to be cleaned up.

" It's something in the building, " said. " Even when they say they

didn't find anything, something was still making us sick. "

's attorney have sent a demand letter to the school district asking

that employees and students be tested for mold exposure.

As for the moldy custodial closet , the district is working to replace

affected Sheetrock with plastic laminate.

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