HUNTINGTON BEACH : District Acts to Curb Classroom Toxins

The Ocean View School District is taking steps to ensure that 15 portable classrooms ordered for next year do not emit harmful gases, a problem not uncommon in new portable classrooms.

State health officials have discovered that formaldehyde and other substances commonly found in the structures of new portable classrooms, when exposed to heat, may emit fumes that are considered toxic.

Hoping to curb those problems before they arise, Ocean View is ordering the manufacturer of the classrooms to eliminate or reduce the level of toxins to comply with state standards.

The school district is purchasing the portable classrooms to accommodate changing enrollment at schools when a sweeping reorganization plan goes into effect this fall. Among other changes, two schools will close and four others will be converted to middle schools, concentrating more students at fewer facilities.

District officials have written a letter to the manufacturer warning that Ocean View will not pay for any classroom found to have unacceptable levels of toxins.

Officials have also directed a state architectural inspector--who is studying an array of structural changes at district schools--to visit the manufacturer’s plant at different stages of the classrooms’ construction.

After the classrooms are delivered to the school sites, district officials will take additional steps to reduce the health risk to students and teachers.

The new units will be ordered early so that they can air out, allowing initial gases to be emitted before the rooms are occupied. Additionally, the classrooms will be heated to 140 degrees, a procedure which the state Health Department recommends to “cook” the harmful gases from the units.

Before any teachers or students occupy the new classrooms, the Orange County Health Department will test the air inside them to ensure that they are safe.

Some district parents, however, are concerned that additional measures need to be taken to adequately protect students from potentially harmful gases.

Parent Carolyn Sommerfield noted that some health officials have acknowledged that emission standards should be stricter.

“I implore this district not to expose any of our children to any more of these toxins,” Sommerfield said.