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Moldy Schools
Are Your Kids Getting Sick at School?
By Michele Norris
ABCNEWS.com
December 30, 2002
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Dozens of schools have to close
doors because of toxic black mold levels that may have been making
students sick. |
S T. C H A R L E S, Ill., April 18 — On
any given school day in this northern Illinois town, you can find students
hanging out at the mall. But they're not skipping school.
They're actually banned from school because St. Charles' high school, like
hundreds of other schools around the country, is infested with toxic mold —
millions of tiny spores that, when inhaled, can trigger a range of allergic
reactions.
Allergist Dr. John Santilli says symptoms include pounding headaches, a fever
and chills. And doctors say children are most at risk because their lungs are
still developing.
"We have a huge public health problem that really has to be investigated," says
Santilli.
The reason mold growth has reached dangerous levels in so many schools comes
down to poor maintenance. Schools have failed to fix leaky roofs or have taken
too much time to fix water damage caused by floods. Building maintenance has
been scaled back due to budget cuts.
"They have to choose between hiring teachers and buying new textbooks for
maintaining the buildings," says Clem Mejia, superintendent of the Kane County
Regional school district.
Invisible Health Threat
Although St. Charles High School looks perfectly safe, an invisible threat
confirms what many in this community long suspected: The building may have been
making students sick.
"I'd get migraines all the time," recalls student Ashley Hard, 17. "I was dizzy;
I fainted a few times in school."
Hard was a top student and talented athlete. Now respiratory problems have
forced her to give up sports and miss so much school that she failed two
classes.
"I'm a single parent and she's been very sick," says her mother, Marsha Hard,
amid tears. "I think what upsets me the most is that I'd talk to the school and
no one would listen to me."
Health problems associated with toxic mold have prompted dozens of schools to
close their doors, forcing students to miss weeks of class.
"There are no standards for molds," says one St. Charles parent, Cathy Villwock,
whose son developed respiratory problems. "We have regulatory guidelines set for
lead, asbestos and radon. Now if we had any of the above, we would have been
closed down."
But because there aren't regulatory guidelines on these molds, the school wasn't
shut down when it was first detected.
"We're angry, especially when you are battling this for years and years. This
just didn't appear yesterday," she says. "This is a national crisis in our
public schools."
And it's a crisis with a big price tag. Cleanup can cost millions, as schools
remove ceiling tiles and rip out walls — battling a menace that you can't always
see.
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