Ontario School District investigates mold complaint
Occupational Safety and Health Administration says district has five days to respond to query
By: JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, December 21, 2008 1:58 AM PST
ONTARIO—The Ontario School District maintenance and operations staff is currently testing for mold growth at Ontario Middle School following complaints it is growing inside the learning center.
Ontario School District Operations Manager Duke Clinton confirmed Friday, someone filed a report with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, claiming mold is growing in different rooms of the various buildings. The letter from OSHA stated the school district had five days to respond to the matter.
Clinton said, after receiving the letter Thursday, he and another maintenance staff member did a walk-through of the various rooms listed in the complaint, including classrooms of the Enterprise building, the basement of the Odyssey building and a breakroom in the Challenger building, but did not see any physical evidence of mold growth.
To make sure, however, there was no growth in vents or other areas that can’t be seen, Clinton said maintenance staff set up cultural tests in petri dishes in a number of places in those areas to determine, after a 48-hour incubation period, whether any mold spores were present and growing. They also set up a test outside one of the buildings to see what kind of spores might be growing around the school. As of Friday morning, Clinton said no spore growths had developed in any of the petri dishes, but the test needed one more day to be complete.
“If it’s something that I can’t see, that’s where these cultural tests are going to pick up,” Clinton said.
The OSHA complaint was the first time he’d heard of a mold problem in those areas. Usually, if mold is identified, a teacher or staff member notifies his office through a work order and staff takes care of it
“You know, if we see any mold, it’s something that we take care of immediately,” he said.
Clinton said there was another report of mold growing in a classroom this year, but it was just surface mold and was removed quickly.
Mold is a worry, he said, whenever there is a pipe leak at any of the schools, which there is every year. Once leaks are found, they are repaired, the area dried completely and a paint containing mold killer applied to water-damaged tiles. When the basement of the Odyssey building flooded last year because a water pipe broke underneath the school, a company was called in to clean up the damage, and company employees sprayed for mold as soon as the area was dry, even drilling underneath the floorboard, Clinton said.
That basement of the Odyssey building has been commented on before, however. Ontario School Board member David Cox reported at an Ontario School Bond Promotion public meeting in October, when he was on a tour of the basement, he had an allergic reaction because of what he thought was mold.
This week, Cox said, the basement smelled either of mold or mildew and caused his eyes to water and his nose to run and him to sneeze. When he commented on it, a woman standing next to him on the tour agreed it was mold and said it was having the same effect. Cox said, while he did not actually see any mold, he was fairly certain it was there.
“To be completely fair and honest, I only noticed it in one building,” Cox said. “There’s no question that it was present in that one building. I am a very good barometer.”
Cox said the mold or mildew of the Odyssey basement, however, was only one of his concerns at that school during his tour. He said OMS has a number of other deficiencies. His chief safety concern, at the time, was the open street splitting the campus, which has since been remedied by Ontario City Council action.
Old buildings, where it is hard to control the temperatures and humidity, are common grounds for molds to grow, and molds are fairly common if conditions are right, Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, professor and chairman of the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans, said.
Lichtveld, who has both a doctorate and medical degree and worked at the Center for Disease Control in a variety of positions for 18 years, has worked on a number of studies and papers regarding mold and other environmental hazards. She has helped prepare and deliver congressional testimonies on the country’s disaster preparedness and is currently working on a study that examines the exacerbation of mild to severe asthma in children aged 4 to 12 after Hurricane Katrina.
Licthtveld said when talking about mold, it’s important for people to understand there’s not just one species of mold, there are more than 70, and they like to grow in the same conditions.
Lichtveld said people with asthma or other respiratory diseases or who have become allergic to a mold species at home are at most risk from mold exposure because it can trigger attacks. Unfortunately, Lichtveld said, it’s difficult to track reactions to one source of exposure because Lichtveld said, there are many allergen “triggers” people are exposed to on a daily basis in many indoor and outdoor areas, such as dust mites, dog and cat dander, mold, second-hand smoke or even air pollution that might trigger an existing burden.
“Within that context, though, children are one of our sensitive populations,” Lichtveld said.
In schools where mold is a problem, Lichtveld said, it is very important for teachers and school nurses and administrators to be aware what the health risks are and identify who the children with severe asthma or other lung problems are and make sure they have access to their medication at all times.
Communication with parents is also important, Lichtveld said. She also suggests working with the health department
Mold growth, Lichtveld said, is not only common and can be found anywhere the conditions are right, it is easy to treat and get rid of.
“It’s more important to treat the cause of the mold to prevent that from happening,” Lichtveld said.
Lichtveld said, currently, there are no environmental or health standards set for mold and no “formal legal standards.”
“So it's really a population and public health issue,” Lichtveld said.
More information on mold can be found on the CDC and Environmental Protection Agency Web sites.
