MANCHESTER — Regional School Unit 38 officials agreed Wednesday night to conduct additional air quality testing of classrooms at Manchester Elementary School in response to parents’ concerns over how the district and school administration handled a mold problem late last year.
School board Chairwoman Terri Watson said additional classrooms would be tested Thursday, and she assured parents that test results would be available immediately after the district receives the report.
“If we are informed that there is a potential danger to students, we will notify parents and we will work to relocate students if necessary,” Watson said.
Jenny Kingsbury, president of the school’s Parent, Teacher, Community Organization, made several requests of the district and school administration aimed at ensuring better communication with parents.
The organization requested the creation of an oversight committee including parents, teachers and staff; and for air, surface and carpet testing in the entire school. The organization wants the school to commit to immediately testing any area of the school if there is concern reported by staff, parents or children.
Manchester Elementary School teacher Jennie Galletta talks about some of her health problems that she believes might be related to mold during a RSU 38 school board meeting at Maranacook Community School in Readfield.
Superintendent Donna Wolfrom said she doesn’t think the district underestimated parents’ anger or concern over the way the situation was handled.
“When we talk about children’s health and safety, we all need to be concerned,” she said. “It’s an emotional subject.”
During a more than one-hour public comment period, which included a couple of testy moments when Watson told some speakers they were “out of order,” parents spoke of symptoms their children have exhibited over the last year, including nagging coughs, headaches and other unexplained illnesses.
Stephanie Garofalo, a parent of a 6-year-old who has experienced wheezing, coughing fits and headaches since September, said she no longer trusts the administration in part because of the way the problem was communicated.
“They should’ve let us know earlier,” Garofalo said. “They knew there was mold when they got the first report, but they didn’t tell us, and instead, we had to find out for ourselves.”
Sara Russell said her daughter, now in second grade, was diagnosed with a dust allergy and said her symptoms started when she was a first-grader in one of the affected classrooms.
“I worry about the children’s health and the teachers’ health and how it affects their ability to learn and ability to live their lives,” Russell said. “What I want to see is some literature sent home that says what the hazards are and what symptoms we should look for. This hasn’t been done yet.”
Much of the parents’ ire has been on the communication between the district and school administration and the parents.
Wolfrom sent a letter to parents Nov. 28, 13 days after the district received the first air quality report, stating the classrooms were dusty, but the letter didn’t mention mold. It wasn’t until after the basement was remediated and the classrooms were cleaned in late December that the school officially acknowledged the presence of mold in the classrooms.
Mold is naturally occurring and can be found everywhere, the Maine Indoor Air Quality Council states on its website.
The potential mold problem at Manchester Elementary School came to light when the school nurse alerted the administration about a bad smell in the basement. The following day moldy computer bags were removed from the basement, though the smell didn’t go away.
There are no federal health standards for mold, but the state uses indoor air quality standards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a guide for air quality, David Heidrich, spokesman for the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said via email.
Scott Dyer, an allergist and immunologist and asthma specialist at MaineGeneral in Augusta, said there is no way to determine whether a child’s symptoms can be attributed to exposure to mold spores.
“You look at the evidence and pick the most likely cause and solution,” Dyer said. “You’d have to be in a research trial and have exposure to mold spores in a controlled environment to know definitively.”
Dyer said most of the symptoms would be allergylike, including coughing, wheezing and nasal stuffiness.
It’s important to understand that the effects of mold exposure are limited, Dyer said, and that once someone is taken out of the environment where they were exposed, symptoms would dissipate.
The school became aware of the problem when school nurse Jada Clark sent an email to the administration about a bad smell in the basement. The following day moldy computer bags were from the basement, though the smell didn’t go away.
Morse contacted an air quality testing company about a week later and requested and scheduled testing, which was completed Nov. 3
The national Center for Disease Control and Prevention states exposure to mold may cause a variety of health effects or none at all, and children sensitive to mold might experience nasal stuffiness, coughing or wheezing and throat irritation.
The school was built in 1952 and additions were added in 1963 and 1992. Geoffroy said the mold found at the school would be common in schools of a similar age and conditions.
Jason Pafundi can be contacted at 621-5663 or at:
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