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BY KASS STONE
Times Correspondent | Saturday, March 15, 2008 | (1 comment(s))
GARY | Responding to concerns over mold found at Gary's Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts, Gary School Board member Alex Wheeler promised that students wouldn't be attending classes at the current building next year.
"We have absolutely no intention of being in this building next year," Wheeler said.
Gary Community School Corp. administrators spoke Friday at Emerson with dozens of angry parents who had crammed into the school's small cafeteria demanding answers over the recent removal of mold from the building.
The district had Munster-based Vam Labs test for mold in mid-February after it was suspected of growing in the century-old building. Alternaria, cladospirium, aspergillus and penicillium molds were detected, said Dragan Vjestica, a representative of Vam Labs.
"These are the most common molds found indoors," Vjestica said. "They are the ones found in your houses. They are what you would find in your bathrooms."
The school had mold removed from four classrooms.
Wheeler and Emerson Principal Noah Riley on Friday assured everyone that dehumidifiers and air purifiers have been installed in the school. They also said Vam Labs will continue to test air samples from the school to detect any future mold outbreaks.
Officials said among other efforts, the building will go a through deep cleaning over spring break to deal with conditions that encourage mold growth.
Most parents in attendance expressed concern that their children's health had been put at risk in spite of assurances that the mold found at Emerson was not toxic.
Principal Noah Riley sent a letter to parents March 7 detailing the problem. Three parents kept their children out of school Monday and said they plan to do so until classes are transferred to another location.
Sylvia Settle pulled her daughter, Sophie, a freshman dance major, out of school Monday, saying Sophie has had a hacking cough coupled with migraine headaches since the beginning of the school year.
"We can't afford to sacrifice her health for dance," Sylvia Settle said.
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rustcity wrote on Mar 15, 2008 1:49 PM:
Newer schools can have mold problems, too. Coolspring Elementary in Michigan City had the carpet removed in its computer lab after mold was found. The problem was traced to a faulty thermostat. Should they have closed that school down, too?
Would you vacate your house if mold was found in the shower, a sheltered outside corner of an unused room, or in the laundry room? Or would you evaluate the health risk, find out how to remedy the problem, estimate the resources needed, and then make an objective decision? "