District 95: Report gives new May Whitney School clean bill of health
Lake Zurich Unit District 95 officials say the results of the latest mold testing conducted at the new May Whitney Elementary School give the building a clean bill of health.
The test, conducted March 21 by the environmental firm ENVIRON International Corp., found no indication mold growth was a problem in the surveyed parts, per the report released at a recent school board meeting.
"You can say you don't like the building, but if your issue is there's mold there, there's no scientific basis for that," District 95 Superintendent Brian Knutson said. "This was a far more comprehensive report than we've had before by a highly reputable company."
Previous tests had involved only air-quality sampling in the Lake Zurich school, also known as the Annex, at 100 Church St. The latest test involved visual inspections of 16 classrooms and areas, inspection of ceiling tiles and air-quality and carpet samplings of several classrooms and other parts of the school.
The results did not entirely satisfy the Service Employees International Union Local 1, the group that filed complaints on behalf of District 95 janitors and residents with five state and federal agencies claiming evidence of possible toxic mold.
The group is trying to unionize janitorial workers with Aramark, a District 95 contractor, and is using the mold issue as part of its argument.
One of the complaints filed with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration questions whether Aramark janitors were exposed to an unsafe workplace at the Annex.
"That needs to be explored," said Erica Hade, SEIU Local 1 spokeswoman. "We just don't think that their recent test should end the discussion."
District officials have said they don't want to get dragged into a union dispute.
But Hade said school authorities should heed the call of 350 Lake Zurich residents who signed a petition asking the district to conduct a public forum on the mold issue.
"This is an issue that many people have brought up, and we think it needs to be fully explored by independent government agencies who can answer the questions about mold that parents, community members and janitors have been asking," she said.
The environmental firm's report recommended the school district replace discolored ceiling tiles in the Annex and monitor for recurring roof leaks. The full report is available on the district's Web site, www.lz95.org.
"We are following the recommendations that they gave," Knutson said.
District officials shared the test results with the Illinois Department of Public Health, one of the five agencies with which complaints were filed.
IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said the agency sent District 95 two questionnaires to complete, assessing the Annex's building and ventilation system and its indoor air quality.
"What we're doing is hoping to get those filled out so we can get a better picture of the condition of the building and possible health symptoms," Arnold said. "At this time, we need a little bit more information to properly assess what's going on in the school."
August storms flooded the original May Whitney Elementary School, next door to the Annex, leading to the discovery of stachybotrys, a toxic strain of mold, and asbestos.
District officials were forced to convert the former middle school, which had been mothballed for nearly a year and used for storage, into an elementary school to house May Whitney students.