Schools throughout New England battle mold
By
Trudy Tynan, Associated Press Writer, 9/14/2003, on boston.com
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- It's popped up in carpeting, crawled over
ceiling tiles and slimed books and bulletin boards in schools from Maine
to Rhode Island.
"Mold growth has been at a rate that we have never seen in history," said
Suzanne Condon, assistant commissioner for environmental health for the
Massachusetts health department.
The unprecedented outbreak delayed the opening of school for thousands of
youngsters across New England this September and forced school officials
to spend thousands of dollars scrubbing their classrooms.
A spritz of household bleach or a good scrub
with detergent will clean mold from hard surfaces, but it's not so easy
with other materials.
Elementary school students in Bradford, N.H., finally began classes last
week at the Mount Sunapee ski lodge while workers ripped moldy carpeting
out of 11 classrooms.
"We are getting hundreds and hundreds of
phone calls from schools all over the region," said Eugene Benoit,
regional coordinator of indoor environment programs for the federal
Environmental Protection Agency. "I haven't seen as many school closing or
delays in openings in the 10 years I've been working with this."
Schools aren't the only buildings affected, and municipal offices,
courthouses, libraries and homes have also been infested with the tiny
mold spores.
"I've even got mold in my basement for the first time that I can
remember," said Benoit.
The scientists blamed a soggy and steamy July and August for creating
conditions ideal for fungi across the Northeast.
"Basically there are three factors and all have to do with the weather,"
said Condon. "Extraordinarily high temperatures coupled with extremely
high humidity and unbelievably heavy rain with no breaks. Everything got
wet and had no opportunity to dry out."
Under those conditions all it took was a leaky roof, a loose window,
condensation from an air conditioning system or a section of shampooed rug
that was left damp to allow the fungus, which is always among us, to
multiply into big problems.
The calls for help started as soon as the districts began reopening and
cleaning the buildings in August in preparation for a new school year, she
said. More than 50 schools in Massachusetts alone reported mold problems.
And the cleanup hasn't been cheap for cash-strapped districts.
In West Bath, Maine, the school spent about $55,000 to correct its mold
problem. Superintendent Ron Gleason said nearly every carpet in the
elementary school had to be ripped out.
Mold delayed classes for two weeks for high school students in
Southbridge, Mass.
"We are just watching the bills come in," said Superintendent JoAnn
Austin. So far the district has spent about $73,000 and its still taking
inventory of damaged school supplies, desks and books.
"We lost a lot of teaching materials and textbooks and we had to replace
180 student desks," she said. "The mold was all over the underside where
the desks weren't laminated."
In Hinesburg, Vt., elementary students started school, but were sent home
after four days of classes after mold was found in carpeting.
In North Smithfield, R.I., officials estimated they will spend $200,000
pulling out moldy ceiling tiles and insulation.
New schools proved as vulnerable as old.
"It's huge," said William Cooper, superintendent of the Old Rochester
School District in Mattapoisett, Mass.
The schools opened on time, but the bill for around-the-clock work after
mold got into the inner walls of a year-old elementary school ran to
$400,000. Some classrooms walls had to be torn out back to the studs to
rip out infested insulation. The culprit is believed to be condensation
around a new air conditioning system used for the first time, he said. The
bills are now in the hands of lawyers.
New construction techniques aimed at reducing noise, such as carpeting and
dropped ceilings have made schools more difficult to clean than when walls
were plaster and floors were tile, Condon said.
The EPA has developed a protocol of recommendations for schools in which
it is suggested that schools worry less about what type of mold they have
than getting rid of the stuff.
Any strain can cause problems in overabundance, Benoit said.
In healthy children it typically causes no more than hay-fever-like eye,
noise and throat symptoms, but those with asthma and other breathing
difficulties and immune system problems can be affected more severely,
Condon said.
Prevention -- including finding and patching water leaks and tossing
porous items that have become infested -- is the key to keeping out mold.
"The good news is that the steps are relatively easy," Benoit said. "But
the schools may have to spend some money." |