I am one of the original members of the group that bought
Linda May into our situation at Oak Ridge. The amount of
sickness we have had at our school among children and
faculty has been both distressing and alarming. Ongoing
problems for 4 years finally came to a head at our school
thanks to Linda May. We have a lot of issues with the
school district and have no faith in what they have done
to help our students and staff. In fact, they knowingly
put children and staff into the new school building in
2005 with mold already in it. Ongoing roof leaks, poor
construction, lack of fresh air ventilation, and other
factors have contributed to further mold growth. Moldy
carpets have been ripped up with people still present in
the building and the HVAC system still running. Correct
proticol per OSHA and the CDC has not been followed. Each
time this was done, students and staff became sicker. The
situation is deplorable and I and many others are appalled
at the response from the school system. Various
environmental reports show that indoor air mold spore
counts were too high in parts of the building to even
enumerate. Frequent nose bleeds (one child from her
eyes), burning eyes and throat, skin rashes, unusual
headaches, nausea, fatigue, metallic tingly sensation in
mouth, deteriation of sight, ongoing sinus and bronchial
infections, are some of the symptoms that children and
teachers have been experiencing. Up until Linda May
arrived, our school district was not responding in an
appropriate manner. Linda helped the community lodge a
NCDOL complaint, she spoke in front of the school board,
and held a community forum (Paul Clark's comments were
taken out of context and very poor journalism). Linda did
not charge a cent nor ask for anything in return. The
school is now closed for the summer and NIOSH is coming in
to investigate. In addition, NCDOL is involved now too.
Linda has been instrumental in keeping the school system
accountable and ensuring that the students and staff are
not subjected to this any longer.
A local physicians office has been inundated with sickness
from children and staff from the school. Blood test
results show extremely high levels (class 4) of antibodies
to aspergillus and penicillium. These molds have been
throughout our school for 4 years. According to Dr.
Robinson (NC Director of Public Health), these antibody
tests shows that these people are healthy and that their
bodies are functioning correctly.
The NC Dept of Health refuses to acknowledge that mold has
caused any health issues at Oak Ridge. How can they be
allowed to stand behind these statements? It seems that
there are a lot of political games being played at the
expense of our children's health. Shame on the school
system and the Dept of Health for not putting safety and
health first.
What a deplorable situation that would be much worse
without the help of Linda May.
Four years of this is unnacceptable and our children and
teachers deserve better.
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