Published
Tuesday, April 15,
2008
A Benton Elementary
School kindergarten teacher unwrapped a Ziploc-sealed bag of mold-encrusted
books and thrust them into the hands of Columbia Board of Education members
last night.
Some of the board
members wrinkled their noses and delicately passed the books on, not wanting to
touch the moldy paper. But Renee Mottaz wanted them to see, and feel, firsthand
what her students deal with on a daily basis.
Mold lives in the
carpet and the ceiling in Room 100, causing nosebleeds and afternoon
grogginess, she said.
"They’re breathing
more spores than air," Mottaz said, noting that she first reported this in
2005. "What’s going to happen now? ... Somebody has really ignored Benton
Elementary, and it’s time to stop. The children are suffering."
The district conducted
an air-quality test earlier this year, and results in February showed elevated
levels of mold but nothing to the degree of endangering children, Assistant
Superintendent Lynn Barnett said.
"There was no
indication that it was dangerous to be in that room," she said today.
But parents Cynthia
Sapp and Heather Sheridan told board members last night their children had
suffered from mold in the classroom.
"The whole thing
is just disturbing," Sapp said, noting that her child has been in and out
of the hospital with respiratory problems. "This should’ve been taken care
of a long time ago."
Sheridan, whose two
sons have been at Benton since February, said she planned to take them out of
the school until the problems are dealt with. "Please stop poisoning my
children," Sheridan said.
Yesterday, Mottaz’s
class was relocated while custodial staff deep-cleaned the classroom, Assistant
Superintendent of Elementary Education Jack Jensen told the board.
"We’re making
plans as to how to work through that situation," he said.
The school board in
October approved replacing Benton’s roof as part of a larger package of
facility improvements being funded with proceeds from last year’s $60 million
bond issue. Chief Operations Officer Nick Boren said today work at Benton is
likely to begin Thursday.
"I apologize it
wasn’t done as quickly as it should have been done," Jensen told board
members and parents last night.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Apr/20080415News001.asp
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