School board’s special meeting will include
consultants findings at middle school
By:Laura Toto
The Board of Education is holding a special meeting about the middle school air quality at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the high school auditorium.
"We’re holding it to respond to public comment regarding the air quality at the middle school," Superintendent Robert Gulick said.
The meeting follows testing done after the district announced a complaint had been filed in March 1999 with the state Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health Board alleging that students and adults were becoming sick as a result of working in or attending the middle school in January.
As a result of the complaint, the building was inspected by the enviromnemtal consultant and one violation of the ventilation units was reported, but documentation was not available for review to the consultant to assess if the units were operating properly.
The middle school now has ongoing monitoring by an environmental specialist.
The meeting will include a presentation by environmental specialists from Contamination Control Engineering about recent reports and to answer any questions from the public.
The board has already taken a number of steps which should be helping any air and ventilation problems in the school, including replacing ceiling tiles, roof repairs, and replacing sections of carpeting with vinyl tiles.
During the summer, the air conditioning , ceiling tiles and carpeting will be replaced.
But Dr. Gulick said the air quality will not be ultimately fixed until September 2002 when overcrowding will not be an issue because one-third of the student population of the middle school will be moved to the Auten Road School.