Parents want answers about school mold Situation
January 11, 2009
When the mold problem at Haughton Middle School wouldn't go away because
the roof kept leaking, Bossier Parish school
officials moved to deal with
it. But they didn't want to draw too much attention to the problem --
there were concerns about
litigation and a panic by parents.
The
people hired last year to do mold-remediation at the school dubbed it
"Project Hush."
But now, amid growing public concern about the situation, Bossier Parish
school system officials say they will provide more
information to parents
about the leaking roof and mold problems at Haughton Middle.
They said they plan to do additional air-quality testing inside the school
and then notify parents about the situation. Details are being
worked out, schools Superintendent Ken Kruithof said.
News
reports about Haughton -- along with the fallout from a federal corruption
investigation into school maintenance projects --
have led to mounting calls from the public for school officials to fully
disclose what was done at Haughton and what their children
are breathing.
The federal indictment does not involve any work at Haughton Middle. But
the businessmen charged with defrauding the school
system out of $789,000 through overcharges and kickbacks to school system
maintenance supervisors are the ones who got a $1
million, no-bid contract to do mold remediation
at Haughton.
The
contract was awarded last March after a closed-door meeting involving the
School Board and school administrators and the
FBI and Bossier sheriff’s detectives have been investigating whether
maintenance employees took tens of thousands of dollars in
kickbacks to give Air Repair -- which at the
time didn't have a mold-remediation license -- that job.
The work was done while students were on spring break as school
officials tried to keep a lid on the mold problem. Investigators
said maintenance employees and contractors dubbed the job “Project Hush.”
"All
I've heard is (rumor), said Mike Sullivan, whose son, niece and nephew all
attend Haughton Middle. "What we're most
concerned about is, is it safe to send our kids there? Most parents like
us assumed the administration had taken care of that and
was watching out for our kids. Now we need some
reassurance."
Sullivan said he would like someone independent of the school system to
check the air quality at Haughton.
The
schools superintendent said the administration plans to do more
air-quality tests. They will hire a company that has not been
used in the past, Kruithof said, and parents will be notified of the
results, possibly in a public forum or by letter. The administration
wants to get input from
the School Board before finalizing the plan, Kruithof said. "I
think parents need to know," Kruithof said.
"We
are working to do that."
Kruithof declined to comment when asked if he felt the administration had
not been forthcoming, saying he would be second-
guessing others who were also involved.
School Board minutes from last year show a brief public record of the
mold-remediation project at Haughton, but almost all of the
discussion was behind closed doors in executive session. A School Board
member and an attorney who were in the meeting where
the project was approved said they tried to keep the situation as quiet as
possible because of concerns about a public "panic" and
getting sued.
Tests
of air samples showed that air quality improved after the work was done,
Kruithof said.
“It showed the air quality inside was better than the air outside," he
said.
Asked
if that meant it was healthy, Kruithof said the mold has never been
airborne, which would be a serious problem.
"I could not sleep at night putting kids in a building that was not
safe," he said.
The
roof at Haughton Middle School leaked from the time it was built 10 years
ago, school officials said, causing mold, mildew and
water damage. Repairs did not work and the school system last year spent
$1 million on mold-remediation and more repairs. The
School Board last month voted to replace the roof at an estimated cost of
$1.5 million. The board last week filed suit against the
contractor and architect.
Air Repair's two owners, along with three school system
maintenance employees, are under indictment on federal charges the
school employees took kickbacks to steer air condition work to Air Repair,
that bids were rigged so that Air Repair got most of
the
work, and that the company overcharged for air conditioners it installed
and billed for work never done. All five have pleaded
not guilty and are awaiting trial. The chief of maintenance is under
suspension but was not indicted.
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