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Sick School Syndrome: News Archives |
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Sick School Syndrome: News Archives |
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When the new school semester began for students and teachers at Stoughton Middle School, in Stoughton, Wisconsin, everyone was confronted with a proliferating gray-green, spongy mold on classroom desks, books and walls. One of the science teachers, Tom Palmer, said it was the worst he had ever seen. "It smells in there." His 14 new textbooks that cost about $37 each may be ruined because of warping. "I don't even know if we could use them."
The mold problem is the result of the school having shut down the air-conditioning system over the extended 3 month summer vacation. Molds thrive in dark, warm, humid conditions with poor ventilation. To its credit, the school district has hired an environmental management consulting firm to conduct air quality tests. Foolishly, however, students and teachers will continue to occupy this hazardous facility during this period of investigation and remediation.
Molds can cause virtually any symptom you can conceive of, including those that are infectious and or those indicative of allergic or sensitivity reactions. They can provoke adverse reactions in the nose, throat, ears, lungs, heart, joints, muscles, skin, eyes, brain, gastrointestinal tract, genitourinary system and immune system. A mold-infested building is NOT a safe learning environment!
Occupants of William Henry Middle School, in Dover, Delaware, have been complaining of persistent headaches, dizziness and sore throats, for quite some time. Air quality tests revealed "trace levels of several potentially hazardous chemicals" but officials insist that "the levels were too low to cause illness." The superintendent, Joseph Crossen, claims that "what is present is thousands of times below the national standards set for industry."
This kind of attitude is a classic example of school officials paying homage to statistics instead of the legitimate complaints of PEOPLE. They need to be reminded that there are no national standards for air quality for schools; and that young children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental insult.
Back in 1937, students and teachers at the New London School, in New London, Texas repeatedly complained of headaches and odors in the building, but they were ignored. On March 18, 1937, their school exploded, killing 300!! Due to a mechanical problem, design flaws and inadequate venting, an undetected gas leak had accumulated under the school, causing this preventable tragedy. More than any other incident, this event underlines the importance of paying heed to OCCUPANT COMPLAINTS and SYMPTOMS.
School officials in Alexandria, Virginia, began an investigation of four main ventilation systems in June, after 140 students tested positive for TB. The Virginia state health department found that 8.6 percent of the 1,619 students and staff at T. C. Williams High School, a 30-year-old facility, were infected from exposure to the TB bacteria.
Daryl Alexander, spokeswoman for the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) said few schools are taking care of the TB situation. According to the AFT, schools hardest hit by TB tend to be in urban areas where the facilities are old, no maintenance money is available and ventilation retrofits are seldom done. Alexander said, "We should be taking extra care, and we're not taking any care at all." The AFT has been following reports of TB outbreaks in schools over the last two years in California, Florida, Georgia, Missouri and Maryland. Indeed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta has reported that while the overall incidence of TB is leveling off, the number of cases for children under the age of 15 has increased by 0.8 percent.
The schools need trained personnel that can spot a teacher or student with the symptoms of TB such as flu-like symptoms, weight loss and coughing. One of the more infamous cases that illustrates the need to spot and isolate an infectious person quickly, occurred in Orange County, California, last year. A doctor had treated a TB-infected girl for 14 months for cold symptoms (never diagnosing TB) and in the meantime, she infected half of her classmates.