“I have never seen outdoor levels that high,” Robert Leighton, who did the testing, told the Greenwich Post
Parents' modular tests find high mold levels
BREAKING NEWSPosted 4:05 p.m. June 11, 2008
Testing of the modular classrooms paid for by a group of Hamilton Avenue School parents found high levels of mold in the air outside the building and dangerous levels inside what had once been the school’s media center.
According to the report, the tests conducted by the New York-based environmental health and safety firm Leighton Associates, Inc., found there were “very heavy” levels of aspergillus/penicillium-like mold growth, chaetomium mold growth and ulocladium mold growth in the carpeting for Room Six in the modulars. That room served as the school’s media center until this past year, when it was converted to a pre-kindergarten room.
The testing also looked at the outside of the modulars and the crawl space. According to the findings, there was 1,100 counts of aspergillus/penicillium per cubic meter of air outside the building and of 96,000 in the crawl space underneath it, as well as 3,600 and 120,000 counts of basidiospores outside and underneath, respectively....
Please read the full Greenwich Post breaking news article
The Greenwich Post article also notes....
...Leighton Associates’ testing and the board’s simultaneous testing was done on May 9. The Leighton report was first issued to parents on June 3 and given to the school board this week. It was released to the media on Wednesday, after the parents did not get a response from the board within 72 hours of receiving it. Results of the school’s additional testing have yet to be released to the public....
Please also see:
The Greenwich Post article further notes....
....since the classrooms had already been emptied of all contents, furniture, furnishings and other material and there had already been a “thorough” cleaning, including the replacement of dropped ceiling acoustical panels, “... the air testing data may not have accurately reflected airborne mold spore exposure to students, faculty and staff in this building during the time the facility was operating as a school.”...
...Ms. Bibeault said her children had tested positive for exposure to some of the molds listed in the report and said other parents would have different results because there is no universal reaction. She compared it to some people being allergic to peanuts and others not having any reaction.
Ms. DiBella said the parents would also soon be in communication with their attorney, New Jersey-based Ray Carroll.
Ms. Bibeault said she expected the matter to end up in court to determine who was negligent in the matter.
Members of the school board have said they were not aware of the mold problem until Feb. 29, but Ms. Bibeault said she believes it was earlier.
Mr. Carroll could not be reached for comment.
Kim Eves, director of communications for the school district, said on Wednesday that Superintendent of Schools Betty Sternberg had not seen either the parents’ report or the most recent report done by the board.
Board of Education Chairwoman Nancy Weissler said she had not seen the report either and referred comment to Vice Chairwoman Leslie Moriarty, who could not be reached by the Post.
Check back to Greenwich-post.com for updates. Full coverage will be available in next week’s issue.
Please see:
05/09/09 - Hey Greenwich Time - Glenville School Parents Want To Know Why??????
And For The Record:The Parents Were Prevented From Independently Testing All The Areas
The furnishings, furniture and supplies are in storage containers and this was one of the many areas that parents wanted to test. Hamilton Avenue students and teachers may soon be using these fixtures.
UPDATED THURSDAY JUNE 12, 2008
THE GREENWICH TIME FINALLY
REPORTS ON THE HAMILTON AVENUE
PARENTS TEST RESULTS
==========================
High levels of mold found in a wall, outside a modular building and on a piece of carpeting show that Hamilton Avenue School students and staff were exposed to the spores, according to test results released yesterday by a parents group...
...
Leighton also found high levels of airborne mold outside of the modular in the area next to the building's entrance. While it is natural to find high levels of mold in the outdoors, the readings were particularly high, he said.
"I got to tell you, I do two to three outdoor samples a week," Leighton said. "I've never seen one this high."
The consultant also confirmed that the roof overhang and crawl space were heavily contaminated with mold. He believes that the high outdoors reading may be because the mold infestation underneath the building's crawl space is migrating to its perimeter, including by the entrance, Leighton said....
Please See The Full Green Story
WAIT A MINUTE SOMEONE IS NOT BEING 100% TRUTHFUL
If you read the above Greenwich Time story you will see this paragraph...
The school board had an expert conduct tests at the same time as Leighton did. The report detailing those test results was delivered to the town on Tuesday, officials said.
But another school official came to the RTM District 4's public meeting the Wednesday before last and when he was asked about the testing he said,"We haven't heard 'Boo" from the parents."
He further said the Board Of Education had gotten their test results back and were not "concerned about the results".
This school official then went on to speculate to the District 4 RTM,"That's probably why you have not heard anything from the parents."
Maybe, this school official and the unidentified Greenwich Time school officials that said the test results should remember that it is legal to tape a public meeting in the State of Connecticut.
In fact, some town residents have large collections of public meeting tapes.
So which Public School Official is telling the truth about when the Greenwich Board of Education received the test results.
Is it the unidentified schools official that told the Greenwich Time that the results came in last Tuesday.
Or is the school official that told the District 4 RTM that the test results came in well over a week ago.
Could it be that the unidentified Greenwich Time school official was trying to make it appear that the Board of Education had not violated the agreement to release the test results after three days?
Please send your comments and breaking school news reports to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com
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