LONG BEACH, Wash. - Something is in the air at Long Beach Elementary School.And it's making people sick. Teachers and staff have periodically complained of symptoms, such as nausea, headaches, dizziness, sore throats and other respiratory problems since around the time the school year started last fall.
While no one has reached a diagnosis, one thing is certain: "There's no denying there's a problem," a representative of Washington's teachers union said of the school.
Administrators have documented numerous complaints, including a handful in the past two weeks, said Rainier Houser, superintendent of the Ocean Beach School District that includes Long Beach Elementary, a half-new, half-remodeled school. On occasion, staff members have left work sick, he said.
But it was only in recent weeks children's voices were added to the complaints.
"I've heard there have been some kids who felt a little nauseous," said Houser. "We haven't had any wholesale sickness by any means, but I have heard some symptoms described that I hadn't heard before, like something wasn't right, something smells funny, or in whatever way they're not feeling good."
Several air-quality experts later, and after extensive cleaning, the district still can't pinpoint the culprit.
"It's terribly frustrating to me," Houser said. "The health and safety of everyone involved is critical. But we're dead-ending, so far."
Houser hasn't taken sick himself, nor has he sensed the smell some others have. What's particularly baffling, he said, is that the "smell" described by staff members, changes and moves, although many complaints have focused on the building's remodeled section. The scent also comes and goes, most recently surfacing over the last two weeks.
"What was early described as sort of a sewer smell later on turned into a smell that was not as distinguishable, but seemed to have some side effects," he said. "I heard at one point it was a restroom in one part of the building, and another time it was the gym. Another time it was a classroom. Another time in the hall.
"Every time we investigate, we can't seem to trace it down. So, we keep hunting and hunting."
Every time someone raises a slight concern, maintenance supervisor Jerry Bruner makes the three-minute trip from his shop to investigate.
Last Wednesday, he spent 20 or 30 minutes reading children's books to kill time while sitting in the library, where staff had reported feeling ill earlier. But Bruner felt nothing.
"I feel kind of guilty because everybody seems to be ill around me," he said. "It's at a point where it's pretty frustrating. Indoor air quality is a nasty issue."
"We're trying to do anything and everything we can to find out what the problem is, but every time we think we have a handle on it, we come up with zeros," he added. "All we can do is eliminate any possibilities of what could cause it."
The possibilities are getting pretty narrow.
Richard Prill of Washington State University was among the first to investigate the school last fall. His report came out mostly clean, the superintendent said, aside from a few recommendations. The district took his advice, cleaned some filters and took a stab at stemming the problem, but to no avail, said Houser. Things seemed OK for awhile, he said, but symptoms cropped up again.
April 23 the building was inspected by Larry Quarnstrom, a nationally known air quality consultant who works for the Rochester School District near Olympia. "The school was very clean," he said Friday. Carbon dioxide levels were acceptable, and moisture levels were low, eliminating mold or mildew from the list of potential problems, he said.
In addition, while the school has little carpeting, even that has been tested and cleaned, cutting out the chances glue or soapy residues have contributed to the problem.
Quarnstrom said air quality mysteries can be difficult to solve, but the Long Beach case has been tougher to crack than most.
"Usually if you come in with a fresh look at a building, you can pick something out, but I couldn't," he said. "Normally you can find unchanged filters, or exhaust fans that aren't working. But there was nothing in this case."
He didn't want to talk about "sick building syndrome," a collection of symptoms some people view as controversial or subjective.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sick building syndrome describes "situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified." Evidence suggests up to 30 percent of "new and remodeled buildings worldwide may be the subject of excessive complaints related to indoor air quality," according to the EPA. "Often this condition is temporary, but some buildings have long-term problems."
Another air quality expert from the Washington Bureau of Labor is slated to investigate Long Beach Elementary in June.
Meanwhile, the teachers' union has an eye on the situation.
Julie Green, a representative of Washington State Education Association, said she has taken the school's air quality reports and passed them along to a union attorney, who will check whether there's anything else administrators can do.
"It's a really difficult problem to get a handle on," she said. "People are still feeling sick and getting more agitated. But I'm probably in the dark about what to do next as much as the district is."
Houser said the district will continue searching for a remedy.
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