Committee Recommends King’s Highway Open on Schedule

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Tear Down Specialists!

News, Education

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

By Linda Alvkall

UPDATE The Special King’s Highway Elementary School Maintenance Committee tonight voted unanimously to recommend that the school open next week as scheduled after investigating and addressing air quality issues that some parents said made their children sick.

The vote, involving parents, town volunteers with building maintenance expertise, school officials, teacher union representatives, and health district officials, capped a three-week marathon effort to remediate mold and other air quality issues at the school.

Gavin Anderson, committee chair, said remediation of the gymnasium, where mold had been found behind the walls, would be completed this week.

He said it is likely the gym will be ready for school opening with perhaps a plywood wall closing off the infected area but that two modular classrooms still with problems should remain closed.

The main focus right now is on determining the source of moisture in the gym, Anderson said. He suggested that water runoff from the roof could be an issue.

“The water is critical. We need to be certain of where the water is coming from before we seal,” he said.

Gil Cormier, a consultant of New Britain-based Occupational Risk Control Services, Inc., said he took moisture readings and samples of the east wall in the gymnasium, and he found some visible mold there.

“We did cleaning of the equipment in the storage room, and a dumpster was provided to throw away a lot of stuff,” Cormier said.

Cormier said he took air samples in the auditorium above the gym as well, and they looked good.

“Nothing alarming there,” he said.

Cormier said the school should be open on Aug. 29.

“I would send my child to this school,” Cormier said.

As part of the cleaning process in the school, Cormier said that some ceiling tiles had been replaced.

He recommended that the exhaust system should be turned off when the building is not occupied, and that windows in the classrooms should be open when the children are at recess to let in fresh air.

Cormier praised the school administration and King’s Highway staff for their efforts in helping get his work done.

“Communication has been great, information has been flowing, and anything I have asked—things have been done,” he said. “It’s like someone has been following behind me because when I go back to take a look at it, it’s been completed.”

Monica Wheeler, a member of the committee representing the Westport Weston Health District, said she had reviewed 164 responses of a survey sent out regarding classroom 33.

She said May tests had indicated elevated carbon monoxide readings in the room where parents reported patterns of migraines, sinus headaches, coughing, and fatigue

“They seem to be very, very consistent with low oxygen kinds of experiences,” she said. “We didn’t see a lot of that in any of the other areas but it did seem to be that was pretty significant.”

Anderson expressed his thanks to everybody in the committee and said the key to the solution has been communication.

“This committee will not go away, I hope we can arrange a follow up,” Anderson said.

Cormier suggested a custodial care log to be followed and updated every week to keep the school environment safe and clean.

First Selectman Gordon Joseloff, responding to parental complaints, appointed the committee July 30--three days after Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon said in a letter to parents that testing in May had found the school’s air quality “to be acceptable and safe.”

Alison Reilly, a committee member and King’s Highway parent, said she was grateful to Joseloff for appointing the committee.

“I do want to say that we are all here because of Gordon,” she said.

“I mean none of this work would have gotten done—the carpets wouldn’t have gotten changed, the (ceiling) tiles wouldn’t have gotten changed, the wall wouldn’t have gotten opened up, the gym would be in use at the start of school, and the music rooms would have been in use so I think a lot of the things go to the committee being formed.”

Joseloff thanked Anderson and the committee members.

“I thought all along that the physical problem would be less of an issue than restoring confidence and gaining confidence (that the school was environmentally safe),” he said. “We’ve done that with your hard work.”

He said it was important to gain confidence in the safety of the air quality in all schools as well as all municipal buildings.

Mary Parmelee, chair of the Board of Education, told the committee meeting her board would be going to the town funding bodies for an appropriation to pay for the remediation efforts as well as air testing at other schools.

News, Education

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Committee Recommends King’s Highway Open on Schedule

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