By Brian McLaughlin
Almost a year in the making, the report on Woodmere Middle School's air quality was finally presented by Dr. Howard M. Sandler to the public and the Hewlett-Woodmere school board during a meeting on Tuesday, May 28. Sandler, a licensed physician specializing in occupational and environmental medicine, was generally optimistic in his report, stating that the school's facilities posed no threat to the health of students and teachers, and that there was no evident need for any action to be taken to remedy the problem aside from basic maintenance measures that are recommended for all schools.
The release of Sandler's findings comes three weeks before District 14 residents will be asked to vote on a $39.5 million bond to construct a new Woodmere Middle School behind the current site. The report apparently provides ammunition to the opponents of the bond, who insist that a new school does not need to be built, but the old one needs to be renovated.
But most parents, board members and other district residents who attended the meeting were skeptical of the report.
I have seen classrooms where soaked tiles are falling down around students' heads, said Joan Skronek, a member of the faculty association. I have seen mold growing on walls and floors. This is not safe.
For several years prior to Sandler's study, the middle school's students and faculty have complained of smells, mold, leaks and mildew throughout the school, which they said have caused many of them to experience such symptoms as headaches, fatigue, sore throats and congestion.
These symptoms began showing up in students and teachers as early as 1985, said Skronek.
Sandler tested the school's air quality at four different times throughout the past school year in hopes of gauging an accurate reading on how the school responded to different seasonal conditions, including rainfall, heat and the different forms of ventilation the school would be using at different times of the year.
The tests evaluated the amount of molds and fungi in the school, the level of toxins that could potentially be given off by such substances, the performance of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and measures of temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide/monoxide levels. While molds were found, they were either common, harmless species or in such small amounts as to be negligible, Sandler said. There were no hazardous levels of toxins detected in the air, he said.
Based on his findings, Sandler's recommendations for the school included basic cleaning of the ventilation system, carpets and furniture, possibly installing a new, larger HVAC system, and strict correction of leak problems. Sandler said most of the mold growth in the building was caused by leaks and an elimination of the leaks could cease that growth.
But residents who attended the May 28 meeting were unhappy that mold was present in the school at all, despite Sandler's assurance that mold was present virtually in every school building in some form or another.
You're not making it clear that some of the forms of mold you detected are known to cause serious illness, one man shouted out during the meeting.
Teena Ditchek Korman, a newly-elected school board member whose concerns about the mold led her to create her own Website on the problem, said she was not satisfied with the testing because Sandler did not conduct a health study on the students themselves as [he] initially considered. Sandler said he decided against the health study because it would require a tremendous amount of cooperation and information from every occupant of the school in order to be at all helpful, and even then it would have accuracy problems.
Most members of the audience were dissatisfied with Sandler's proposals, many of them seeming to prefer much more extensive measures, such as constructing a new school.
The bond vote, to be held on June 18, will be the third time since March 2000 that the construction of a middle school will be put before the public. The other two times, with plans that cost more money than the current proposal, the bond was shot down by voters.
Even if the air problem is not as bad as we thought, it is still a problem, one of many that this school suffers from, said school board member Ellie Greenberg. We are focusing on solving all these problems with our plan for the new school.
Other suggestions from the audience included installing air purifiers or eliminating the moldy crawl space under the school, neither of which Sandler thought would have much of an impact.
Many parents were also worried that although these molds may not be a problem for healthy students, they could pose a threat to students with asthma or highly sensitive allergies.
My son has asthma, one father said at the meeting, On the weekends and during the summer he's fine, but he's always coming home from that school sick.
Attending last week's meeting was Vincent Giocastro, an asthmatic who was a student at the school four years ago. I never experienced any problems during my time here, he said.
Sandler admitted though that students with such conditions probably would experience some discomfort due to the school's conditions. But in all likelihood, he added, they would experience those same symptoms at other schools.
Sandler reminded the audience that he judged the middle school's risk level based on a fixed national standard. You can make your own decisions concerning what you consider too much of a risk, but according to that standard, the school is safe, said Sandler. I would have no problem sending my own children here.
