AFT leaders in Houston won a key battle Sept. 19 when the city's school board decided to close a middle school with a mold problem serious enough to send a steady stream of staff to the hospital for the past few weeks.

The school system will move about 650 students and more than 100 staff members at Key Middle School to another building while an expanded investigation of the problem is conducted. The superintendent said classes would be held Sept. 20 and then he would inform parents about plans for relocating.

The move, which Houston Federation of Teachers president Gayle Fallon calls "a no-brainer solution," nonetheless required intense pressure from the union, parents, the school's principal, a parade of epidemiologists and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston). Areas of the school smell of mold, which is visible on walls.

The real soldiers in this battle, however, were custodians and teachers at the school who have fallen ill since Aug. 27, when five school employees filed workers compensation injury reports and the principal summoned the district to investigate mold in six classrooms. On Aug. 28, a teacher went to the hospital after feeling sick. That weekend, the district ordered custodians to clean the school and seven of them were hospitalized Sept. 2, at least partly for inhaling bleach-generated fumes during the cleanup.

On Sept. 10, two teachers were taken to the hospital, followed by numerous other instances of staff falling ill and going to the hospital.

Wretha Thomas, president of the AFT-affiliated Houston Educational Support Personnel Union, points to broken and leaky air conditioners as a potential source of the problem. She is calling for surface samples to be taken of mold growing behind chalkboards and elsewhere. So far, tests have been conducted only for airborne microbes.

As of Sept. 17, Fallon adds, about 225 students had visited the school nurse, "and you can add 15 a day." School staff have been struggling to manage in the chaotic environment. Fallon says one parent told her: "If I keep my kids home, they don't get an education. If I send them, they get sick."

Within days of the initial incidents, the AFT's health and safety department sent detailed guidelines to Houston federation leaders, who distributed the guidance to local members, including a one-page checklist for symptoms of exposure to mold.

Some highlights:

• Cleaning up mold requires scrubbing with simple detergent. In the case of paint or drywall, the mold may have infiltrated the material itself, which may need to be removed. Cleaning drywall and carpet that's been damp for more than 48 hours usually doesn't work; the mold grows back. Experts do not recommend bleach as a way to clean up mold.
• Once people are exposed to chemicals or mold, it's too late to prevent exposure, but they need to document the exposure in their medical records in the event that they're injured and need to file for workers comp.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed guidelines for mold cleanup. Among other things, the areas need to be isolated and workers given proper protection (including N-95 respirators) during cleanup.

AFT locals should ask their school district for a copy of any written policy on mold prevention and cleanup, including descriptions of any training it gives employees to do this kind of work. Preventive maintenance is the key to keeping students and staff healthy.

The AFT health and safety department offers a wealth of other resources on mold and "sick buildings," including fact sheets. Visit our health and safety area http://www.aft.org/topics/health-safety/index.htm of the Web site for details.

September 21, 2007