SUFFOLK
The lawyer who helped bring a lawsuit against the city over allegations of dangerous mold problems at an elementary school said Friday that he does not want to panic parents.
Cristina Hood, a fourth-grade teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School, filed a lawsuit this week that accuses school and city officials of failing to address dangerous levels of mold that sickened her and some of her students. She is seeking $2.5 million in damages.
"None of us want to unduly alarm the public," said David Bailey, Hood's attorney. "We don't want mothers getting frantic."
Bailey said he has not spoken to any parents with children at the school or other teachers there.
He also has not sought any school records, he said.
"All of that is down the road, depending on how the court wants to deal with it," Bailey said.
"We have tried to keep this, at the moment, to the situation with Ms. Hood," he added. "And I realize it has much broader implications."
School spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she assured parents across the district that the air in the schools is safe.
"We take the health of our students and staff very seriously," she said. "We don't feel any of our students or staff are at risk at any of our schools."
Hood was hired at Booker T. Washington last summer to teach about 25 fourth-graders. According to her complaint, she began to suffer itchy eyes within days of beginning work and later developed nasal congestion, a sore on her mouth and a severe face rash.
The lawsuit said about 20 percent to 30 percent of Hood's students have respiratory problems, watery eyes, allergies, asthma, runny noses, headaches and stomach issues. Hood sends children to the school nurse daily, the complaint said.
Tawnya Vogel, another teacher at the school, said in an interview Thursday that she has worked at Booker T. Washington since 1990 and has never had any health problems from her job.
Bailey, whose Richmond firm specializes in environmental law, said about one in four people have a genetic makeup that leaves them more susceptible to the effects of mold toxins.
"Mold and moisture problems require very specific and prompt attention, and if they don't get it, they generally get worse," he said.
The lawsuit said school officials began having the floors of Hood's classroom cleaned once or twice a week and brought in a mold inspection company.
The school, built in 1953, received a little more than $6 million in renovations in 2000, Bradshaw said.
Bailey said parents at the school who think their child might be sick from excessive mold exposure should talk to school officials and see a doctor, and tell the doctor about the allegations against the school.
Dave Forster, (757) 222-5563, dave.forster@pilotonline.com
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Sick School Buildings Harm Thousands
Over time, each sick school building can destroy the former good health of thousands. Learn more at www.schoolmoldhelp.org - see the Information - Sick Building Symptoms page. Damp, moldy school buildings that have moldy rugs, walls, ceilings, insulation, floors and more are a major health hazard. Parents should educate themselves about this and avoid these harmful environmental exposures.
Taking 2.5 million out of the budget will help?
The amount involved clearly makes this a slime ball ambulance chaser trying to hit the court room lottery. He should have to go around and collect from each Suffolk taxpaper if he wins.
The Alarm is not undue...
Mold in schools is nothing new. As an elementary teacher, I experienced reactions to mold exposure in 2 local public schools. Through the EPA and OSHA I learned that, because Va. has no "standards" specified for acceptable/unacceptable levels of mold in public buildings, identifying mold problems - let alone addressing them - is challenging.
After two years of migraines, allergy and asthma complications, (as well as helpful photos of mold growing on the carpeting and walls), the school system decided to replace carpeting in a few classrooms the next year. However, union involvement prompted the gathering of air samples in those classrooms with "the worst" mold - though officials insisted nothing would be done until the next year. The school, after all, was only 30 years old. Three days after the air samples were taken, all carpeting in the tested rooms was replaced
It was impossible to find out what the tests revealed to prompt such a dramatic response. Unfortunately, 8 of my 22 students that year were newly diagnosed with asthma and my health problems continued. New carpet didn't address the underlying ventilation issues creating the mold, and I w