Mold Issues-A Word From The Teacher

[Miriam Blum <PeeWee1015@aol.com>]

I am a school teacher in a public school. The EPA has not been invited in to visit my school in 30 years. I live in one of the wealthiest most highly rated school districts in the state of PA. Yet, despite the education and affluence, the school is ridden with mold and children are getting sick. We have one of the highest incidences of asthma in the state and I have been out of work for one year because of exposure to stachy in a modular trailer. I would like to see the EPA work to establish guidelines that require inspections of all schools-not just by invitation. I know that the Tools For Schools Kit is a valuable resource, but our school does not even have a health and safety committee. Nor, will anyone allow me to persuade them that my illness is even a real one. We need to set up standards for safe and healthy schools before other people get as sick as I have become. Who can you contact that can help in this matter if the EPA cannot? How can the laws change so that poor innocent children in public schools are protected? Our school is filthy. We have removed dead animals from bathroom fans and even our brand new state of the art 17 million dollar school which was built in September has a known problem with leaks and mold! How can safeguards be established for new construction as well as older buildings? Why aren't there required inspections by the county once a building is on a site? Also, if these trailers are so dangerous, how can they be allowed to remain standing once they have expired? The one I teach in is 16 years old and has decomposed and has termites. Its recommended lifespan was 5 years. How come the EPA cannot condemn these horrible structures? A teacher in our school has been carried away three times by ambulance, but no one relates it to the IAQ problem. As a teacher, I want to learn how to educate the public and establish mandatory in-services programs on IAQ for every teacher, student and information to every parent.