Parent wants mold answers

[Guest guest]

Parent wants mold answers

By: Kerry Heeran, Herald Staff

New Britain Herald - New Britain,CT

NEW BRITAIN - Before the regular meeting Monday night, the Board of

Education held an open forum for parents to express concerns or

thoughts regarding education.

Two parents of DiLoreto Magnet School spoke about the lack of

communication between the school district and parents regarding the

accusation that there was an unsafe amount of mold growing at the

elementary school.

" The information is not getting to us, " said Martha Crawford, who

has two children at DiLoreto. " We as parents do not get the whole

picture. "

Crawford was frustrated when she failed to contact the school

district through e-mail and phone calls regarding the issue because

she was unable to reach school officials.

" I think as a taxpayer and stakeholder, I have the right to have my

e-mails returned in a timely fashion, " she said.

Superintendent Doris Kurtz said there are several reasons why the

school administration could not respond, including a recent glitch

in the e-mail system and an overwhelming amount of e-mails from the

public.

EnviroScience Consultants of Newington was hired by the school

district in February to test the air quality related to the exposure

of mold. In a meeting last week, Kurtz and a consultant of the firm

revealed that there were no findings of any health hazardous mold.

Crawford said she feels good about the information given from the

administration and believes there is not an air-quality problem but

doesn't like the fact that she can't reach anyone to answer her

follow-up questions.

" You always have that feeling that if you can't have any questions

answered then there is that feeling of 'why?' " Crawford said.

Frances Wolski, vice president of the Board, said the school

administration gives the public all information up front and " does

not hide a thing. "

" There are a lot of things going on at DiLoreto School - it is a big

school and personnel does not meet the needs of the school

population, " Wolski said. " It is nice that you are concerned, but I

think that you have to be realistic and support the staff up there

that is addressing it. "

During the New Britain Board of Education meeting, the board

approved an initiative that would develop and implement a smaller

learning community, the Global Collegiate Academy.

In a partnership between Central Connecticut State University and

the New Britain School district, the program will prepare students

in grades 6-8 for college and the workplace.

Kurtz said the program, taught by college professors, would be aimed

to include college preparation and critical thinking skills. She

said the program would be marketed to students of different academic

levels.