Parents Air Fears Over School Chemicals

Anxious parents packed the auditorium of Rio Vista Elementary School on Thursday to question health and environmental officials about the possibility of toxic chemicals in portable classrooms.

Health concerns have led several Rio Vista parents to have their children screened for the chemicals phenol, arsenic and formaldehyde, even though the youngsters showed none of the symptoms found in children who were diagnosed by doctors as being sick from chemical exposure.

“There’s the whole safety issue,” said parent Beverly Lucia. “I just want to make sure they’re OK.”

The parents became alarmed in February after a 10-year-old student was treated for severe allergies that were not relieved by medications. Doctors concluded the student’s ailments might be related to the environment of the portable classrooms.

After performing toxicology tests on the child, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital toxicologist Gary Ordog said he found higher-than-normal levels of arsenic, formaldehyde and phenol. Ordog blamed improper ventilation of the portable classrooms for the problem.

Lucia took both of her children, one who attends class in a portable classroom and one who does not, to be tested for the chemicals shortly before Thursday’s meeting.

Parents struggling to understand scientific test results became angry and, at times, verbally attacked members of the panel, accusing them of trying to hide something. The parents demanded to know what the tests meant and what would be done by the school district to remedy any problems.

Saugus Union School District school board member Eileen Connolly reassured them that the district was doing its best to address the problems by ventilating the portable classrooms.

Machado Environmental Corp., hired by the district to test for airborne contaminants, released its latest indoor air test results. They were negative for arsine, arsenic and phenol.

Alecia Foster is a correspondent for Times Community News.