Another school worker, residents join action April 18, 2008
 
Two janitors who say they fear they worked in unsafe conditions in Lake Zurich schools filed complaints with state and federal agencies Thursday that allege the buildings are contaminated with toxic mold.

The janitors, employees of Aramark Corp., are represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 1. Two residents and a former cafeteria worker joined in their complaint after janitor Gustavo Gomez reported seeing green and yellow mold on ceiling tiles he was asked to remove last summer at the new Whitney Elementary School.

Pupils and staff moved classes into the building last fall after the former Whitney Elementary School next door flooded and was closed after mold and asbestos was discovered.

Union officials said the janitors filed the complaint with five agencies because there is no one governmental agency with clear jurisdiction over mold in schools. The agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Labor.

School officials say they conducted tests throughout the fall and as recently as March 21 and found no evidence of unhealthy air quality or mold.

They say the janitors never complained about seeing mold until seven months after they worked in the building.

The company the school district hired to do the testing, ENVIRON, is expected to provide a written report on its latest findings soon, said Jim Jennings, school district spokesman.

"We don't gamble with the health of our children. We don't gamble with the health of our staff members," Jennings said.

"For some organization out of Chicago to come in and say that and use our children as a political football is bothersome."

Union employees have held two protests outside Lake Zurich schools questioning the school's air quality.

"I am requesting that your office conduct an inspection of my workplace before people become seriously ill," Gomez said in the complaint.

Others who filed the complaint include janitor Fermin Bedolla, former cafeteria worker Jennifer Axelrod, Hawthorn Woods resident Virginia Johnson and Carolyn Fitzgerald of Lake Zurich, who moved her children out of District 95 because of her concerns.
 
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lake-zurich-moldapr18,1,6660840.story
 
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