County school officials have hired an outside consultant to check Edgewater Elementary School for air-quality problems after some parents raised concerns about whether mold is growing in the school.
In a message sent home to parents, officials said Building Dynamics, an industrial hygiene and mechanical engineering consultant, would be looking into their concerns.
School officials have set up times at which the company's president, Ed Light, will be available to meet with interested parents. The message told parents they could drop off questions at the school office.
"The firm will be looking at the building's maintenance history, looking at classrooms, evaluating the crawl space," the message said.
Building Dynamics will make recommendations to remedy any problems it finds.
Some parents and teachers have claimed in recent months that conditions in the building are responsible for breathing problems and infections among students and teachers with existing health conditions. They also said that the air-quality problems have caused headaches and nosebleeds.
Testing conducted during the fall found elevated levels of carbon dioxide, humidity, volatile organic chemicals and large particulates in the air in certain areas of the school at certain times.
School system officials have said these air-quality problems, although they might have caused discomfort to those in the building, did not pose a health risk to students or teachers. And officials said those concerns have been addressed.
Joanne Clarke, one of the parents most vocal on the issue, told the county Board of Education yesterday that concerns about the health and safety of those in the school persist.
Clarke said teachers have sent her videos and photos of mold found in classrooms this week, as well as of foul-smelling steam coming out of a ventilation unit in another classroom.
After meeting with Light yesterday, Clarke said she believes he will bring a neutral perspective to the issue.
"He was impressed on the levels of concern he was hearing from parents," Clarke said. "He was very open to what we told him."
Another Edgewater parent, Matthew Fisher, said he was encouraged by his meeting with Light but wanted to wait and see what happens.
"He was saying the right things," Fisher said, adding that it seems Building Dynamics will do a comprehensive review of health issues at the school. "The trouble with doing that is it takes time to do a thorough job."
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