No Sickness at School, Studies Say

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Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1999

District 200 Claims " All-clear " at Building; No Sickness at School,

Studies Say

By Bob Goldsborough. Special to the Tribune.

Representatives from Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 told hundreds

of parents at a meeting this week what they have been saying in recent

weeks: All of their studies indicate the beleaguered School in

Warrenville is safe enough for classes to begin Tuesday.

The elementary school, where complaints first surfaced in 1997 that mold

counts were making pupils sick, has become the subject of ongoing

controversy because of a $33 million lawsuit filed on behalf of the sick

pupils. District 200 won the latest round in the suit on Tuesday when a

DuPage judge denied a request to shutter the school.

On Wednesday, District 200 Supt. Catalani and the district's facilities

manager, Sluis, gave a presentation on completed school-improvement

projects designed to alleviate the concerns. They also answered questions

from the approximately 300 people in attendance.

Acknowledging the sensitivity of the lawsuit, Catalani disclosed at the

meeting's end that district lawyers had pulled three questions submitted by

audience members because they related directly to the pending litigation.

But Catalani and Sluis rattled off capital projects completed at the school

and statistics that show is at least as safe and as environmentally

healthy as other district buildings. The district, which since 1997 has

spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve drainage around the

building, remove carpeting and replace mold-plagued ceiling tiles, has no

major building projects on its agenda.

Over the summer, Sluis said, the district made some minor changes to the

property, including improving the draw of its ventilators, adding

concrete to the school's service door and making repairs to the edges of the

school's south parking lot.

Additionally, Catalani told parents that 's absentee rate in

1998-1999 was lower than the district average, suggesting the school was not

at all responsible for making pupils sick last year.

" On any given day, 96 percent of the population was here, " Catalani

said. " The district average was 95.9 percent, while the state average was

93.8 percent. "

The district also is continuing to monitor the air quality in the building,

Catalani said.

" The real concern with sick buildings is comparing what's in the air inside

the building with what's in the air outside the building, " Catalani said.

" In all reports, our consultants never found anything inside School

that wasn't also in the air outside the school. "

Parents seemed pleased with the amount of information that the district

discussed on Wednesday night, although some were adopting a cautious

attitude about the coming school year.

" They provided more information than what I knew up until now, but I want to

wait and see what happens when school starts, " said parent Karrie

Gadorus.

Robin Hedges, who has two children at the school, praised the present

district administration's handling of the matter, noting that the district

was not as responsive to parents when the problems first occurred in

1997 under the watch of Supt. Jim . " I think now it's a safe

building, " Hedges said. " I personally haven't been upset. "

Catalani told parents the lines of communication are open--both literally,

with a school hot line number (630-682-6405), and figuratively, in telling

them to send anyone who still has questions about the school to the district

offices.

" If you're leaving here with good feelings about , that's great, " he

said. " The first thing you can do is to be good spokespeople for ,

and to tell people what you now know. That's how we stop rumors. If you

don't feel comfortable doing that, please steer them to one of us. "