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After a decade of sounding the alarm over an elementary school plagued by mold, school staff and families in Bessemer, Ala., have finally succeeded in getting the school closed again—seemingly for good. J.S. Abrams Elementary School has been closed for the foreseeable future after a recurrent mold issue struck again. Students reported to other public schools in the district on Sept. 8.
Central Alabama AFT President and former classroom teacher Erika Hughes, along with other teachers, resurrected the issue in July after spotting black mold that could make students and staff sick. Hughes went inside the school and contacted the health department, based not only on seeing mold throughout the building, including classrooms, but also on a lack of running water in the girls’ restroom and only one working sink in the boys’ restroom.
Since the state took over the school district about two years ago, parents, employees and other stakeholders have faced major barriers to obtaining information. Union members again raised concerns about the building’s condition before they were moved into it, Hughes says. Their concerns were ignored, and they were required to move into the building anyway.
After school started, Hughes stood in the Abrams pickup line informing students’ families of the mold as they arrived to drive their kids home after school. She handed out leaflets with pictures, and leaned in to speak with each driver.
“The community is not aware,” she told a local ABC television affiliate. “That is why, as president of Central Alabama AFT, I am walking the streets today during car line to let these parents know what is going on.”
Some students, teachers and staff have missed classes because of respiratory issues since the second day of school, Hughes told the network. One parent told ABC that her child had problems breathing. After visiting the doctor, they still didn’t know for sure where the problem was coming from but suspected the mold.
Same old song
This was not a new issue for the families and staff at Abrams. In 2016, its main school building was shut down after a similar bout with mold. Back then, water pipes were leaking, causing mold in the ceilings and destroying insulation. All the damaged materials above the ceiling were removed, much of the classroom flooring replaced, and air vents installed in a $1.6 million renovation. Still, the problem returned.
The school district tested this summer and found “moderate levels” of mold, which was removed, but as AFT health and safety experts point out, there is no need to spend a school district’s funds on testing when you can see the mold with your own eyes. Nonetheless, after the testing, the district decided to shutter the primary school indefinitely and send the children back to other schools in the district. Teachers and staff who had set up their classrooms at Abrams in August had to pack them up again, while continuing to feel unwell, and set up a second time at other schools.
To her knowledge, Hughes says, the district has not corrected the underlying problem at Abrams. Instead, it simply closed the building. What makes this situation particularly frustrating is that Central Alabama AFT fought to have the issue addressed about a decade ago, Hughes says, and the district was allocated millions of dollars to eliminate the mold.
“You would think that after 10 years and that level of investment, the district would have corrected the problem rather than allowing students and employees to face these conditions again,” she says.
Another win: Air-conditioned buses
As if closing a chronically moldy school were not victory enough, union leaders announced last month that they’ve succeeded in persuading school officials to install air conditioning in every one of the district’s fleet of school buses in Jefferson County, the second-largest school district in the state, after being told it would never happen.
“We have been fighting for two years for them to put air conditioning on our school buses because the temperature reads 110 degrees plus, and the drivers and students are miserable,” Hughes says. “We have been using media outlets and social media to get attention on the unsafe conditions the heat brings. This is a huge win for us.”
The public is more aware of the mold and heat issues today because the union provided information directly to parents, Hughes says. However, there is still a serious lack of transparency in the Bessemer City Schools, she adds, and that community deserves answers.
“We are extremely excited and on cloud nine after these two wins,” Hughes says. “We are definitely trying to make it known that the AFT fights to win and doesn’t give up.”
[Annette Licitra]