School district attacks bad air in classrooms

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Dec. 11, 1998 | 11:35 a.m.

Sick school buildings may be making kids sick.

That was one message delivered Thursday as Environmental Protection Agency officials huddled with Clark County school authorities to discuss the indoor air quality of schools.

"We're creating buildings every which way and no one ever thought much about what would happen to the people inside," said Barbara Stark, an EPA indoor air program coordinator.

About 50 school facility officials attended the conference, looking for answers about molds and mysterious odors.

"It's very common to find indoor air quality problems in schools, often because of a lack of funding," said University of Tulsa air pollution researcher Richard Shaughnessy, who helped run the conference. "People are more concerned about schools falling in than they are about air quality -- and rightfully so in many cases."

Stark and Shaughnessy introduced a new kit designed by the EPA to help teachers, custodians and principals find solutions to the bad air wafting through their classrooms and hallways. The kits are available free to schools.

"Indoor air pollution is real and you don't have to be an expert in every detail of it to deal with the problems," Stark said.

About 100 air quality problems were formally reported to district officials last year, said Jan Villaire, a director in the district's environmental services department.

Mold is a common culprit, often found hidden behind furniture, under carpets or behind walls, feeding on moisture.

Some molds are harmless. Other air-bourne spores can cause eye, nasal and throat irritations, nausea, drowsiness, dizziness and headaches.

"Whenever I want to give an example of how mold will grow in a dry environment, I use Las Vegas," Stark said. "All you need is leaks. Mold will grow anywhere."

Complaints at schools range from air temperature to odors.

In one recent case, officials scoured an elementary classroom for the source of a foul smell. The culprit: a lunch left by a pupil to rot in his desk.

Sometimes, the source of odors eludes investigators, as it has at Gibson Middle School for months.

However, the smell receded in October after the district treated the room with ozone. Students are back in the classroom, Villaire said.

"We haven't had any more complaints yet," she said.

In rare cases, officials have to completely demolish rooms, Villaire said.

Villaire fields calls from principals at both new and old schools. Officials say new schools create synthetic micro-environments full of chemicals found in building materials, new furniture, carpets and paint.

The keys to clean air include ventilation, cleaning air filters and ducts and finding the source of molds and fungi -- not just removing them, officials said Thursday.

Villaire hopes schools will obtain the new EPA kits and use them.

"Ninety percent of the problems we deal with could be solved at the school level," she said. "It's a matter of getting the commitment of the school administration."