Talk Mold

An informational meeting for parents of Plantation Elementary School students is set for 3 p.m. today at the Holiday Inn on the Evangeline Thruway to discuss mold and its effects.

A potentially harmful mold was found on the Kaliste Saloom Road campus March 31, and at least seven students have tested positive for exposure to a toxin that the kind of mold found at Plantation can produce called trichothecene. The test used on the children is not FDA-approved.

An expert in the field, Linda K. May, will conduct the meeting to help parents find answers. May is an accredited instructor of the OSHA Training Institute and is certified by the Environmental Protection Agency.
She has been dealing with hazardous environment sites for more than 30 years. She spoke briefly to the school board Wednesday night and offered her services.

The school district has test results from a March 31 testing that show one of the three rooms tested had high levels of Stachybotrys mold, which is referred to often as black mold or toxic mold.

The school cleaned the room where Stachybotrys was found, retested it and found no mold in the air. However, the district never found the source of the mold.

At the urging of parents, the school district later performed campuswide tests, cleaned and then performed more tests. The results of the tests before and after cleaning have not been received by the district.

Questions about mold began in December when the parents of a Plantation student, the Phillibers, contacted the district to inform them their son tested positive for a toxin produced by mold called trichothecene. He had been sick since November.

The Phillibers tested their home and when they found no unusual levels of mold in their home asked to test the campus.

In February, after making no headway to gain access to pay for and conduct tests on campus, the Phillibers filed suit to test the school.

Before their hearing, the district told the Phillibers they could test the campus. They and the district tested three rooms March 31.

The Phillibers have not released their test results. However, their attorney has said they found high levels of Stachybotrys in the band room, which is the same room where the district found the mold.

Other parents have said their children have symptoms ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to blurry vision and headaches along with sore throats.

Experts disagree about some of the effects of mold on humans leaving parents with questions about how to care for their children.

Via The Advertiser