asthmatic 6-year-old daughter had to be flown to a hospital

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Lew Muckle parents lash out at officials

By AESHA DUVAL

Friday, January 27th 2006

Daily News Photos by CRISTIAN SIMESCU Pedro

Montes, father of

four Lew Muckle Elementary School students, speaks

Thursday

evening during a PTA meeting at the school.

Outraged parents

voiced concern over mold problems on the campus.

ST. CROIX - Angry and frustrated parents demanded to

know how long

their children would be out of school during an

emergency Parent

Teacher Association meeting Thursday evening at Lew

Muckle

Elementary School.

The V.I. Education Department shut down the school for

two weeks

after teachers staged a protest Monday, refusing to open

their

classroom doors until the school is free of mold and

mildew.

Education officials said the Estate Sion Farm school

will remain

closed while contractors repair leaks and remove mold

from

classrooms, offices and the school library, which has

been closed

for two years because of leaks.

Hundreds of parents packed the school cafeteria Thursday

and

peppered administrators with questions. Emotions were

high as

parents asked why they were not informed earlier in the

school year

that parts of the school were contaminated with mold.

said her daughter, a fourth-grader at

Muckle, missed

three weeks of school last September when her skin broke

out. Before

the rash became severe, said, the skin

irritation would go

away over the weekend but come back once her daughter

returned to

school.

Daren " Bogle " s, father of a student, speaks

at the PTA

meeting.

" I thought she was having an allergic reaction to

something she

ate, " said, choking back tears. " I didn't know

what was

going on. "

Pedro Montes, who has four children at Muckle, said his

asthmatic

6-year-old daughter had to be flown to a hospital in

Puerto Rico

when her eyes and face became severely swollen.

Doctors there confirmed that mold is what made her sick,

Montes

said.

Other parents came forward, some of them in tears, to

talk about how

sick their children have become in the last few months.

They also

wanted to know why Education Department officials were

not present

at the meeting.

" I just want to know why we were never told, "

said. " Why

did it have to get to this? "

Muckle Principal Hoover apologized to the

parents and said

the school is looking out for the children. Teachers

were on hand at

the meeting to hand out school assignments for students

to complete

at home, and Hoover encouraged parents to have their

children read

and do other educational activities while school is out.

" We know that this will create a hardship, " Hoover

said. " We are

looking out for the health and safety of our students. "

She said the school experienced many leaks following the

heavy rains

in September. After Montes' daughter became ill, the

Education

Department was notified of the situation, she said, and

the school

was tested for mold.

According to air quality tests performed Nov. 25 by

technicians at

Environmental Concepts Inc., high concentrations of mold

spores were

detected in parts of the school.

The types of mold spores detected at Lew Muckle include

aspergillus,

penecillium and cladosporium, which are all common mold

spores. High

concentrations of mold spores can pose a health risk to

children,

the elderly and people with allergies or other breathing

conditions,

health officials said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention,

most healthy people are not affected by the presence of

mold, and it

is not likely that mold can bring on infections in a

healthy person.

People with compromised immune systems, such as people

with HIV

infection, cancer patients taking chemotherapy and

people who have

received an organ transplant, are more susceptible to

mold

infections.

Symptoms of mold sensitivity include stuffy nose,

wheezing,

irritated eyes and irritated skin.

The test results were sent to the department and school

administrators on Dec. 7. Teachers at the school learned

of the

results on Monday and refused to go into the classrooms.

Two contractors are working at the school

simultaneously:

Environmental Concepts Inc. and Safety Solution Concepts

Inc. Using

a bleach solution, workers began cleaning classrooms and

offices on

Tuesday. An official with Safety Solution Concepts told

parents that

once the solution is dried, a biocide will be applied to

seal off

any contaminants. He said that once the chemicals have

dried, they

will not harm the children.

Parents also wanted to know how the missed days will be

made up.

Assistant Principal Eloise said the school has

submitted a

proposal to the department using suggestions from

teachers who were

surveyed this week. She said school administrators could

not release

information on the proposal until it is approved by the

Education

Department.

" What about the parents? Don't we get a say? " one woman

yelled.

Several senators attended the meeting but were blasted

by parents

for failing to take action. Sen. Pedro Encarnacion, Sen.

, Sen. Usie s and Sen. Figueroa-

Serville spoke

during the meeting and pledged their support.

Outraged parents began walking out of the meeting, and

one man

turned down the volume on the microphone while Figueroa-

Serville was

speaking.

Muckle parent Gladys Pagan announced that parents were

planning a

march starting at Bassin Triangle at 9:30 a.m. this

morning. She

said the group will walk to the Education Department's

offices in

Christiansted to protest conditions at the school.

Pagan said parents are worried that the mold will come

back and that

their children will be out of school again.

" We're angry because this could have been avoided, "

Pagan said.

Parents who missed the meeting Thursday are asked to

call the school

at 778-5286 for their children's assignments.

- Contact Aesha Duval at 774-8772 ext. 453 or e-mail

aduval@....