Thursday, 12 April 2007Pennsylvania - According to Tuscarora School District officials, mold has... (Public Opinion/Ryan Blackwell) Public concerns about conditions in the St. Thomas Elementary School prompted school officials to test the school and find mold in portions of the building.
On April 4 and Monday, Analytical Laboratory Services Inc., Harrisburg, performed a fungal sampling survey and visual inspection at the school that houses 400 kindergarten through fifth-grade students.
The scope of the survey was to visually inspect accessible areas for water infiltration or fungal growth and collect air samples for fungi.
According to a letter that was sent home with students Wednesday, "fungal growth was identified on pipe insulation above drop ceilings in one wing of the school."
The wing affected is the north wing, the newest portion of the school, which was renovated in 1991. About half of the students in the school occupy this wing.
Twelve classrooms and the hallway of the wing are affected. Eight of the 12 classrooms are slated for remediation while the other four will be addressed, according to Business Manager Rick Kerr.
"ALS said the school didn't need to be closed, but the mold had to be removed," Kerr said.
ALS tested for eight types of mold, but the district was most concerned about aspergillus/penicillium, according to Kerr.
"We found other types of mold, but I was concerned about aspergillus/penicillium because in one room it was much higher than the outside air count," Kerr said.
He said school administrators were unaware of any mold issue until the Public Opinion posted a story about the James Buchanan High School in Mercersburg that sparked online comments about mold in the elementary school in St. Thomas. Both schools are part of Tuscarora School District.
"Nobody was aware of the mold. Everybody was shocked, but because there were community comments, we went back and looked at the history and the history was it (St. Thomas Elementary School) was clean in 2004 but in 2000 there were a couple of classrooms that had to be remediated," Kerr said.
"Our initial response was from the online comments that we were hearing and when we talked to the maintenance director we found the last air survey was done in 2004," said Nadine Sanders, St. Thomas Elementary School principal. "We did this to be proactive."
In 1992, the district had to install an external drain outside a couple of classrooms because water was getting into the building and causing mold. Then, in 2000 mold appeared in a couple of classrooms.
In an effort to solve the most recent mold issue, some students will be moved today to the art and music rooms.
All mold removal will take place after school, weekends and during the summer months to minimize disruption to the students.
"I tell parents all the time our responsibility is to educate the students and to keep them safe. In order to keep them safe we have to get rid of this mold," Sanders said.
Also this afternoon ALS, environmental consultants for the district, is to bring in three or four contractors in a pre-bid conference. The contractors are expected to present the district with their quotes on Monday or Tuesday.
Kerr said the remediation will take three to five days per classroom, if it is done one classroom at a time.
It will cost between $30,000 and $40,000 for the remediation, which does not include the cost of replacing insulation.
Kerr said the money for the project will probably come from the approximately $200,000 that was earmarked for either the reserve fund or to repair the high school swimming pool.
Both Sanders and Kerr said they are not aware of any students who have exhibited health issues due to the mold.
Kerr said the district does not conduct routine air testing.
"It (testing for mold) averages $2,000 a building, and if there's not an indication that there's a problem, I don't feel like spending the taxpayers' money," Kerr said. "In this case because there was community comment on that article, people asked the question. That's why we did this. Because the 2004 air quality was OK we didn't have a concern at St. Thomas. But people said there was mold at St. Thomas, so we decided it was worth looking into."
Kerr said the district is considering conducting air quality testing in the other unrenovated buildings this summer as a precaution.
The other unrenovated buildings are the high school and Mercersburg Elementary School.
Richard McGarvey, spokesperson for the state Department of Health, said the school district is using a firm, ALS, that has extensive experience in the field of environmental issues and confirmed that the company has conducted air quality testing in other schools in the state.
While the state Department of Health does not require school districts to conduct air quality testing, it has established a set of guidelines dealing with indoor air quality.
Health risks
Richard McGarvey, spokesperson for the state Department of Health, said mold may or may not cause health problems.
"It is very difficult to say what the symptoms are for people who are exposed to mold and that's because the symptoms can range from nothing to headaches and respiratory trouble. It's a very individual reaction and each individual reacts differently to mold. That makes it hard sometimes because one person might have a runny nose and another person in the same classroom won't have any problems at all -- while another person may be complaining of having trouble breathing," he said.
Air quality
What Pennsylvania guidelines say:
- Children may be especially susceptible to air pollution. The same concentration of pollutants can result in higher body burden in children than adults because children breathe a greater volume of air relative to their body weight.
- The typical school has about four times as many occupants as office buildings for the same amount of floor space. A variety of potential pollutant sources exist in schools, including art and science materials, industrial and vocational arts, and gymnasiums.
- Sources of indoor air contamination include polluted outdoor air and underground sources (e.g. radon, pesticides, and leakage from underground storage tanks). Indoor air contamination can also be caused by a variety of indoor sources (e.g. equipment, furnishings, and housekeeping supplies).
- To prevent or help resolve indoor air quality problems effectively and efficiently, schools must ensure that recommended temperature and relative humidity ranges be maintained in the indoor air and that the HVAC system is working properly.
- Pollens and molds may cause allergic reactions, such as asthmatic episodes, for many individuals. No standards exist for biological agents in indoor air, although the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers recommends relative humidity levels between 30 and 60 percent to control growth.
Other control measures include general good housekeeping and proper maintenance of HVAC equipment. Adequate ventilation and good air distribution are also helpful.
-- Pennsylvania Department of Health Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for Pennsylvania Schools, May 2002
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Board of Ed. closes Indian Hill classroom
By maura dowgin
Staff Writer- Independent - NJ
HOLMDEL — Room 4 at Indian Hill School was closed last week following a memo from the township Board of Health to the Board of Education warning of possible mold problems in the classroom.
Parents of the fourth-graders who used the room were reassured by school officials that the students will not be put back into Room 4 until mold-level test results ensure the students’ safety.
The Board of Education moved the fourth-graders out of Room 4 on Oct. 29 and ordered environmental tests to be conducted on the room.
The students were moved to a science lab in the school as a result of Board of Health recommendations and parental complaints regarding students’ allergic reactions to mold in the classroom.
Parents agreed they will not be fully satisfied until the cause of the problem is identified and removed from the room.
"Please don’t put them back until you find out what’s causing them to be sick," said Francine Campis, mother of a Room 4 student.
Campis’ fourth-grade daughter currently has an upper respiratory infection, she said.
The tests on the room include indoor air quality, temperature, relative humidity, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and two tests for mold, said Dominic Carrea, assistant schools superintendent. These tests are being performed by Tiffany-Bader Environmental of Lawrenceville, Carrea said.
The tests for air quality, temperature, relative humidity, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide have all shown the room to be safe for the children, said Carrea.
The results of the first mold test have determined that there is not a dangerous amount of mold in that room, Carrea said. The Board of Education is still waiting for the results of the second mold test, which should be in sometime this week, he added.
School officials did not contact the municipal, county or state boards of health about the problem.
Parents of students in the school contacted the township Board of Health, which recommended the children be taken out of the room and observed to see if their health improves or the symptoms change when not in Room 4, said Donald Harter, Board of Health chairman.
The state Board of Health and Public Employee Occupational Safety and Health Association, which found out about the situation through published reports, are currently inspecting the classroom and will report on its findings in the near future, said Nathan Rudy, state Board of Health spokesman.
Parents said their children felt sick in school and felt fine after they were home.
Carole Gennusa, mother of a Room 4 student, said her daughter came home from school visibly ill and felt fine within an hour of being home.
The symptoms include headache, stomach ache, nausea, fatigue, nose bleeds, sore throat, and irritated or burning eyes, parents said.
The Board of Education is not convinced the sickness is necessarily caused by mold, which may or may not be in the room. School officials said there are many different causes for these types of symptoms and there is no way of knowing what is causing these children to be sick.
Room 4 has had mold problems in the past. Children were moved out of the room last year after test results showed the levels of mold in the room were above normal.
After last year’s mold scare, the Board of Education said it worked hard to get the room cleaned for this school year. Ventilation, book shelves, black boards and the roof were replaced over the summer, said Carrea.
The new roof had a biocide put on it.
"Biocide is a chemical that kills any mold or anything that could be growing on the roof," Carrea said.
The room was then tested in May to ensure the students’ safety, Carrea said.
Campis said testing the room right after the cleaning is not good enough.
The parents brought Bill Sothern, an industrial hygienist from Micro Ecologies Environmental Health Specialists, New York City, with them to the meeting as an expert witness.
Sothern said the previous tests represent one moment in time and are not comprehensive.
Sothern also said a report from the Indian Hill nurse’s office indicated the students in Room 4 went to the nurse significantly more times than students from other classrooms.
The nurse’s report does not indicate any causes for the illnesses, Carrea said.
"There is nothing on the nursing report that would indicate anything but kids going to the nurse," said Thomas E. Baumlin III, Board of Education member.
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