"Since day one, since kindergarten, she's been sick with allergies, asthma, coughs, you name it. She's had it. It's the mold. I have proof. I have five, six years of proof," Angie Johnson says.

KNOX COUNTY (WATE) -- More parents are coming forward about mold conditions at Carter Elementary School.

The school is more than 70-years-old and parents have complained to Knox County schools about mold and asbestos issues before.

Now, one mother claims the school is making her daughter sick.
Nine-year-old Shellby Johnson has been sick since she started kindergarten at Carter Elementary School.

Her mother, Angie Johnson, says the school is to blame.

"Since day one, since kindergarten, she's been sick with allergies, asthma, coughs, you name it. She's had it. It's the mold. I have proof. I have five, six years of proof," Johnson says. 

Shellby wasn't the first student to get sick.

A number of other parents tell 6 News their kids have had similar symptoms while attending Carter.
"My son went to school here 10 years ago and he had the same symptoms," says Lucy Johnson. "Over the summer, he was completely well. The next school year, it was the same thing."

Shellby is better now. She's been out of school recooperating for almost two weeks. But soon, she will have to go back.

Knox County schools has denied recently that Carter Elementary has had any current issues with mold.
Parents disagree. They say they've been after the school to clean up its act or build a new, clean school. But their pleas have gone unanswered.

"We feel the school board is not doing what they should be doing to get us a new school," Belinda Martin says.
"People are having to pull their kids out, having to home school them because they're sick. If we don't speak up for our children, who will speak up for our child?" Regina Underwood says.

Because of the school's age, parents want a new school. However, Carter Elementary is not on the list for proposed improvements in the school board's capital plan. 

The parent-teacher organization or PTO has been trying to get a committee together to fight for a new school. Parents say they're tax payers just like everyone else in the county. They shouldn't have to fight.
Knox County schools spokesman Russ Oaks did not return calls from 6 News for a comment.
Parents in this story are looking to hear from other parents concerned about conditions at Carter Elementary.
 
 
 
 

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