Poway School Illness Rate Found Normal

A health survey released Monday shows that students at Midland Elementary School are no more prone to illness than youngsters at another Poway grade school, despite reported bacterial and fungus contamination at Midland last spring that caused parents to keep their children at home or transfer them to other schools.

During the scare that began in February, several Midland classrooms were evacuated after teachers and students complained that something was causing them to break out in rashes and experience other allergic reactions.

The survey report, released on the first day of the fall semester, showed no statistical difference between illness and absenteeism rates at Midland and Valley elementary schools. Midland students reported a significantly higher number of rashes, while Valley students had more respiratory illnesses.

Supt. Robert Reeves said the Poway Unified School District has spent more than $100,000 in testing and investigation of the Midland problems, “and we are very confident that there is not a problem there. We are planning no further testing.”

But Linda Teplitz, a mother of one of the Midland students most affected by the mysterious contamination, said: “I’m not surprised at the report and its findings. It said just about what the school district wanted it to say.”

The survey of parents at both Midland and Valley follows an earlier report by the environmental testing firm of Med-Tox Associates, which showed unusually high levels of microorganisms in some Midland classrooms, but failed to find any source that would have caused the allergic symptoms that both teachers and youngsters reported experiencing.

The district, which also spent more than $100,000 on improvements at Midland, is still without an explanation for what happened during the previous school term. Both administrators and parents expressed hope that the illnesses will not reappear this year.

On the first day of classes Monday, Midland students arrived to find newly renovated classrooms, cleansed of mold and fungus and free of birds’ nests and carpet beetle larvae--all suspects in the outbreak of rashes, headaches and other allergic reactions.

Two reports by Med-Tox, an environmental consulting firm, showed little statistical difference between rates of illness among Midland and Valley students. They also show no identifiable sources for the illnesses among Midland students and staff.

Reeves said he believes that the health survey of parents released Monday “will put to rest any concern” that the school is an unhealthy place.

“I believe this most recent report continues to indicate that there’s no difference, and never has been a difference, between the health of Midland students and those in other schools,” Reeves said. “The kids at Valley have as many or more illnesses as those at Midland, according to the survey of parents.”

Last spring, after Midland parents and teachers took their complaints to the district board of trustees, the board hired environmental consultants to check for causes of the illnesses.

An initial report showed high levels of fungi and bacteria in some of the 43-year-old classrooms, but not at concentrations that would cause normally healthy youngsters or adults to be affected.

However, parents said the classrooms were causing headaches, dark circles under the eyes, nausea, skin rashes, stomachaches and other allergic reactions.

Several classrooms in the older part of the school were closed, and students were moved to temporary classrooms last spring while the older buildings were renovated.

An area of the grounds found to be contaminated with the pesticides chlordane and dieldrin was paved over during the summer to prevent any contact from students.

Linda Teplitz said she has returned her daughter to Midland for the fall term and “will keep her there until the first incidence of illness.”

She added that she believes that “much more needs to be done” at the school to bring it up to proper standards.

Improvements made last spring and over the summer were scheduled repairs and upgrading, Reeves said. Next summer, more than $500,000 in further improvements will be made, including new central air conditioning and lowered ceilings in some of the classrooms.

A Parent-Teacher Assn. task force that toured the school last spring, noting what they considered unsanitary and unsafe conditions, issued a report on Med-Tox’s findings last week, criticizing the firm for failing to consider early test results that showed high levels of bacteria and fungi in some classrooms.

The task force report urges the school district to bring in a third party, preferably an epidemiologist, to evaluate the test data submitted by Med-Tox; to reevaluate the carpet beetle larvae contamination as a possible source of the unexplained illnesses and to start making clear and accurate reports to Midland parents to prevent a recurrence of what escalated into a near-panic.

The most recent Med-Tox report notes that “press reports may have created a perception that the Midland environment was very hazardous, and this may have created anxiety” among the staff and parents.