Danger Feared in Classroom Walls

Kim Cooper pointed to a dried-up yellow water stain in her notebook that formed when rain dripped from her classroom ceiling. Amused, she drew a circle around the stain with blue ink and a line connecting it to a description that read: “a splotch from the ceiling in social studies.”

Although the eighth-grader was able to laugh about the leaky roof, teachers at Lindero Canyon Middle School in Agoura Hills say they are sick of the problem.

They fear that toxic mold, removed from the school two years ago, still lurks behind classroom walls and above ceilings and may be causing various ailments, from migraines and burning eyes to respiratory problems. Teachers are demanding that the classrooms be retested for mold, the product of years of accumulated moisture.

School district officials say the rooms were cleaned of any serious threats of mold in 1999, and that additional testing is unnecessary and unreasonable.

The dispute is emblematic of a growing, complex issue that has plagued the nation’s schools:

* Medical experts have little understanding of how mold hinders health.

* There are no federal, state or local laws regulating mold levels.

* School districts often don’t know how to identify a mold problem, and when they do, increasingly tighter school budgets make it difficult to eradicate.

* Even a costly cleanup doesn’t guarantee that symptoms will vanish or mold won’t recur.

“It can become a nightmare,” said Kevin Gordon, executive director of the California Assn. of School Business Officials. “How much money do you spend on a problem, and when do you stop? These cleanup efforts can become a black hole.”

Since 1992, teachers and students have complained to the district of health problems at Lindero Canyon, which is built on a high water table, said Donald Zimring, deputy superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

After the complaints increased through the years, Las Virgenes district officials hired a Long Beach firm in 1999 to find the source of the problem. Gray Environmental Inc. found molds, including aspergillus, penicillium and stachybotrys, in 12 classrooms and a faculty room.

The district then hired Pacific Health & Safety Consulting Inc. of Irvine and spent $80,000 to clean up 20 rooms, replacing walls and carpets and removing mold.

“In light of the resources we have available, our district has gone above and beyond,” Zimring said. “We’re proud of what we’ve done and will continue to be.”

But teachers aren’t as confident. Stachybotrys was found again in one classroom by Pacific Health in December. Zimring, who ordered its removal, said the sample was too small to pose health risks. Still, teachers called for aggressive testing.

“I just don’t get why they’re not [testing],” said Barbara Brammer, who has taught at the school since 1967 and sees an allergist for symptoms she has had since the early 1990s. “We want to be assured that we’re working in a healthy place.”

Principal Ronald Kaiser said he is not sure whether his staff’s health problems are related to the school’s indoor air.

“The district has really tried to do its absolute best,” he said. “We don’t want teachers and students in environments that are unhealthy. In years of budget crunch, you can’t keep pouring money to test and test if there’s no evidence.”

But there are signs of discomfort at Lindero Canyon. Carol Pessara, a teacher with chronic allergy problems, has a photograph on her classroom door that reads: “Mold Loft.” She has had sinus headaches for three years, and has been on a prescribed antihistamine for two years.

“My concern is there are mold spores,” she said.

Special education teachers Sharon Lee and Heather Simmer, who share a room, have air filters running all day, but they say they continue to experience burning eyes and migraines.

“I feel like I want to scratch my eyes out,” Lee said. “It burns all the time in here.”

Mold can be hard to find, but is sometimes detected by its mildew-like odor.

Testing can be as simple as taking air samples in the classroom and comparing them with the air outside. It can also be as drastic as tearing away walls or ceilings to look for mold. An extensive examination can cost as much as $3,000 a room, Zimring said.

Teachers at Lindero Canyon said in 1999 that the mold was found clinging to walls behind cabinets and hidden from view by drop ceilings. They also said carpets in many classrooms were soaked with water because of leaky roofs, creating a welcome environment for mold.

Despite the health complaints, medical experts still cannot explain why some people exposed to mold become ill. A sick person may be diagnosed with allergies or migraines, but tests do not reveal that mold is the cause. Also, individuals may react differently to mold exposure, making it difficult for officials to determine how much mold may be unsafe.

“It’s such an exceedingly complex problem because there are hundreds of thousands of varieties of mold,” said Sandy McNeel, an environmental epidemiologist for the state Department of Health Services. “We’re still at the bottom of the learning curve when finding out what makes people ill.”

Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health and safety for the Los Angeles Unified School District, said he believes more medical research will reveal that mold can adversely affect health.

“Just because a school district throws money at a problem, it doesn’t mean they’ve dealt with it effectively,” Bellomo said. “The evaluation process has to be done with good scientific principles. Some [districts] are responding to fear and anxiety.”

One only has to look to Charles Helmers Elementary School in the Saugus Union School District, where fear of toxic mold in portable classrooms resulted in a $500,000 cleanup in 1999. Later, the state Department of Health Services determined that poor ventilation, not toxic mold, caused the headaches and nausea among students and teachers there.

“It was a painful experience,” said Mark Fulmer, a former Saugus administrator who is an assistant superintendent in the Visalia Unified District. “People think you’re hurting their kids.”

Some public agencies have developed recommendations for schools to monitor the environmental quality in classrooms and other public buildings.

Lindero Canyon is one of about 10,000 schools nationwide that have adopted the Environmental Protection Agency’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools in some form. The program recommends educating faculty and staff to monitor ventilation, air conditioning and humidity. Schools can apply the suggestions as they see fit.

Principal Kaiser said his staff members are watching for problems so mold damage can be prevented. The district will soon repair the leaky roof, for example.

More teachers than students have complained of symptoms, some believe because teachers spend more time in one room than students, who move from class to class. But others say the reason may be that many students are just unaware of possible hazards.

“We could be oblivious,” said eighth-grader Katie Felber.