Mold issue continues at school

By Ben Bozeman, Kennebunkport Post
Staff Writer

An attorney who represents teachers at Middle School of the Kennebunks told the RSU 21 School Board of Directors that staff and students should be removed from the school to avoid long-term health problems from mold in the building.
The Kennebunk-Kennebunkport Educators Association hired Mark Cloutier, an attorney who specializes in worker’s compensation from the Portland law firm of Cloutier, Barrett, Cloutier and Conley. He was hired to assist with the 19 ongoing worker’s compensation cases, as well as to work with RSU 21 toward improvements necessary at the school.

Cloutier told the board the number of sick staff members is growing.
 “What we have is a situation where half of the staff is ill,” Cloutier said.
Cloutier’s report prepared for the Dec. 6 school board meeting included medical opinions from Dr. Paris Mansmann, a Yarmouth allergist and immunologist who examined more than 20 staff members who said they had respiratory or skin problems.
Cloutier said the mold has started to cause increasingly serious health issues with staff and some teachers have been diagnosed with what he calls “life-altering illnesses”
“Most will have medical conditions (from the mold), some will have irreversible ones. There are several staff members who are now going to be on steroid inhalers for the rest of their lives,” he said.

Cloutier said the amount of mold is a concern, but the types of mold found are the real problem.
“We’re not talking about a few trace findings,” he said. “The studies have found what’s classified as toxic mold in the building.”
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, toxic mold refers to mold that produces mycotoxins, which have the potential to create acute and chronic health effects.
RSU 21 Superintendent Andrew Dolloff said the school district is doing everything it can to remedy the situation.
Despite negative effects mold has had on teachers, Dolloff said students have shown little in the way of symptoms.

“I’ve had some conversations with a handful of parents,” Dolloff said. “We had one student moved to the high school as a precautionary measure. Aside from that, we haven’t been receiving word from parents (any other students have shown symptoms).”

Cloutier’s report included information from a building and staff report completed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, that was given to the district in September. The organization visited the school three times and recommended certain areas of the school, most notably the roof, be repaired or reconstructed.

Some of the steps recommended for inside the school raised more concerns.
“The construction will have to be done in stages, with that section of the building empty and sealed, or in the summer when nobody’s there,” Cloutier said. “When you start fooling around with the building, you will release the mold in a much higher intensity.”

 “We continue to initiate the protocols that NIOSH recommended,” Dolloff said. “We’ve received funding to put a new roof on the school and we’re preparing to go to referendum.”
Dolloff said the school has already completed about half of the 20 steps NIOSH recommended.

 He said the district has secured $1 million from the state to deal with mold problems. Of those funds, $300,000 is a grant, but the remaining $700,000 is a interest-free loan that voters must approve.
Dolloff said the issue will be on the March ballot. The rest of the 20 steps suggested by NIOSH, including removing all carpets depend on the referendum passing.

In the meantime, Cloutier said teachers should be moved from the school to teach at different venues, or or, if necessary, in portable classrooms.

Cloutier also proposed teachers be moved to nearby Sea Road School, something Dolloff said would be “disruptive to the district.”

Cloutier asked Dolloff to compile an analysis on what extra improvement suggestions would cost. Dolloff said he plans on presenting his findings at the next school board meeting, 7 p.m., Dec. 21 at Kennebunk High School.

Staff Writer Ben Bozeman can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233