North field Elementary School parents fret over mold threat

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N.S. parents fret over mold threat

JOSEPH B. NADEAU, Staff Writer January 24, 2001

NORTH SMITHFIELD -- Should the North field Elementary School be closed

for the rest of the school year after the discovery of " toxic " mold spores

in its air?

Some parents appearing before the School Committee last night argued for

that course of action after blaming the discovery of stachybotrys mold, a

fungus suspected of causing life-threatening and fatal lung ailments, for

the chronic respiratory illness, sore throats and ear infections their

children suffered this year.

Closing the school would allow for the building's wood-truss roof to be

reconstructed, the only solution parents believe will correct the

longstanding leaks in the structure viewed as causing the mold problems.

Committee members say they are weighing reconstruction as an option, but

would wait until summer to begin any major repair. The school could be

cleaned over the February and spring school vacations when children and

teachers are not present, school officials added.

" We just want it fixed. We don't want a Band-Aid. We don't want the ceiling

tiles pulled down. We want the roof replaced, " said Sharon Cross of 16

Lincoln Drive.

The parents became alarmed after obtaining the results of an air quality

study the School Department commissioned last fall. The report, received by

the school department Dec. 8, identifies seven of 14 rooms tested in the

building as containing stachybotrys mold spores. Various types of mold were

identified in all of the rooms tested.

Cross, a member of the School Health and Safety Association (SHASA) formed

by NSES parents to address the mold problem, has a 6-year-old daughter who

has suffered repeated illnesses.

" She's had three sinus infections and had pneumonia just since the start of

school, " Cross said. " She's never been sick before. "

Another parent asked what risk the committee would be willing to expose

local children to " if toxic mold has been found in these rooms? "

R. Vanderslice, chief of environmental health risk assessment for the

state Department of Health, described the discovery of stachybotrys and

other mold varieties in the school as worrisome but stopped short of saying

the building should be closed as a result.

" Anytime you find those molds you just can't sit back and relax, you have to

go after them, " Vanderslice said.

The School Department plans to obtain more information from an environmental

consultant in February, and that information could be helpful in determining

what action should be taken, he said.

Stachybotrys surfaced several years ago as a possible cause in series of

pulmonary hemorrhage deaths in another state, Vanderslice said. The federal

Centers for Disease Control later questioned whether the mold had been the

cause after additional studies, he said

Regardless of the variety, however, Vanderslice said any mold problem left

unchecked could pose serious respiratory health problems and other ailments.

" The only solution is to eliminate the moisture, " he said.

A past flooding problem at the school related to its proximity to wetlands

has since been controlled with drainage and other improvements, he said.

" But you still have roof leaks. "

School Department employees attempted to clean some of the mold at the

school over the Christmas break and replaced water-damaged ceiling tiles,

but apparently did not find the source of the mold growing inside the

building, he said.

That source must be found if the problem is to be corrected, Vanderslice

said. " This school is going to have to embark on a real effort to find all

sources of mold and have them cleaned, " he said.

Committee members promised the parents that the School Department will do

everything necessary to fix the problem.

" We are working to solve these problems but they will not be solved

overnight, " said School Committee Chairwoman Charest.

When asked by School Committeeman Ezvoski whether there was " any reason

to vacate that building " before roof repairs could be completed, Vanderslice

said he would need more information before answering that question

definitively.

" It depends on the report you receive, " Vanderslice said of the consultant's

upcoming check for a source of the problem. The mold has also become a

concern for staff at the school, according to Busko, a first-grade

teacher.

" I had seven children out on Friday and average three to four children out

every week, " Busko said. " I myself had some of these symptoms. "

While the committee is still looking for a permanent solution, Charest

promised the panel would " do everything we can to keep the children and

teachers as healthy as possible in that building. It's not acceptable to us

either. "

©The Call 2001