Feb-Mar 2021 Advisor

LEGISLATING

FEBRUARY–MARCH 2021 CEA ADVISOR 7

CEA CONTINUES PUSH FOR SCHOOL INDOOR AIR QUALITY STANDARDS CEA’s push to improve school air quality, which began ahead of last year’s General Assembly session, has taken on even greater urgency this year with the ongoing threat of “Every morning and afternoon, teachers recorded the temperature and humidity levels of their classrooms into an online database,” she recalled, testifying before the

dizzy spells, difficulty breathing, low blood pressure, equilibrium issues, blackouts, burning eyes, joint aches, pain, intestinal issues, headaches, vertigo, tinnitus, brain fog, memory loss, and allergic rhinitis. “In October 2018, doctors discovered I’m allergic to molds,” she told legislators. “The following August I had sinus surgery from bacteria buildup caused by exposure to my environment.” That environment

COVID-19. Efforts to pass indoor air quality legislation last year—when the pandemic cut the legislative session short—have resumed in earnest, with CEA leaders, members, and staff testifying on a bill that sets standards for safe heating, ventilation, and air conditioning in schools. “Many of Connecticut’s schools have been plagued by extreme temperatures and mold that have caused serious illness among teachers and students, as well as obvious disruption to learning,” says CEA legal counsel Melanie Kolek, who has been advocating for members on various fronts, from workers’ compensation cases to legislation. “The current threat of coronavirus, which is largely an airborne pathogen, only exacerbates the problem,” she says. Testifying virtually before the legislature’s Public Health Committee on Senate Bill 288: An Act Concerning Indoor Air Quality, Kolek said, “Over the course of at least the last four years, we have seen a spike in the number of cases involving exposure to mold and other environmental toxins in schools and classrooms.” In that time period, she pointed out, at least 60 teachers in Stamford alone suffered from mold and toxin exposures at school, many with persistent health effects. The rate of student illness, she added, is equally staggering. “As I testified before you last year, the 2019-2020 school year was by far the worst in terms of the numbers of teachers falling seriously ill just by showing up for work.” Telling their stories Several Stamford educators testified on the bill, as did 2011 Connecticut Teacher of the Year and Stratford Education Association Vice President for Secondary Schools Kristen Record, who teaches physics at Bunnell High School. Record helped lead CEA’s statewide investigation of extreme classroom temperatures in 2019- 2020.

Public Health Committee via Zoom. “The results were astounding. As we moved from May into June, and then again from August into September, we saw classroom temperature levels regularly in the 80s, often in the 90s,

“AS A RESULT OF WORKING IN THIS UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT, MY HEALTH HAS SUFFERED, AND I AM CONCERNED FOR THE HEALTH OF EVERY STUDENT AND EMPLOYEE WHO HAS BEEN EXPOSED TO THESE CONDITIONS.” Jessica Reap, Stamford teacher

included excessive heat and cold stemming from problems regulating the HVAC systems in each classroom, rodents getting into the main HVAC system, and other factors. Rakoczy chronicled numerous incidents of poor air

Setting standards, finding funding Reap and her colleagues asked legislators to pass SB 288 and strengthen it with language addressing minimum and maximum classroom temperatures. That temperature range, said CEA Executive Director Donald Williams, should be maintained at 65-78°F, with a maximum relative humidity level of 65 percent. “For perspective,” he told legislators, “this is the same temperature standard required by our Department of Agriculture

and even above 100°F. Then came the winter, when heating systems failed and teachers and students alike spent days in cold classrooms, wearing coats and gloves. Teachers across the state would bring space heaters into school to keep their classroom temperatures above 65°F. When was the last time you had to regularly work in an office where the temperature was in the 80s or 90s?” Record asked legislators. “Or needed to wear your coat all day because it was only 60 degrees in your office? And yet these are the conditions we are asking our teachers and kids to endure while trying to deliver and receive a high-quality education.” Record also shared her own personal story of health issues traced to mold, inadequate cleaning and ventilation, and poor indoor air quality that had plagued colleagues in her school building for years. “And then came the COVID pandemic,” she said, “further exposing the horrible infrastructure problems in schools across the state. How are we supposed to believe that the same systems that are unable to regulate temperatures properly in our buildings are going to help keep us safe from COVID? The same systems that weren’t properly maintained to mitigate dust and mold in the air are still there. And let’s remember, what affects our teachers also affects our students.” Melanie Rakoczy, who has worked at Stamford’s Westover

quality and dangerous indoor temperatures, including a classroom over 100 degrees, with melted crayons, warped tables, buckled floors, and curled magnets falling off the boards. Also sharing his personal story was Westhill High School teacher Joe Celcis, who has been out of work since November 2018 due to illness caused by years of exposure to black mold and other adverse environmental factors in his classroom and school building in general. “I am in constant, varying levels of pain and suffer from intense bouts of brain fog and fatigue that sometimes leave me in bed for days at a time,” he said, “and am currently undergoing treatment that may last for years. If not for the advocacy of the Stamford and Connecticut Education Associations, I am positive that I would have never gotten the treatment and protection that I deserved.” Fellow Westhill teacher Jessica Reap confirmed that she, too, has been working in an environment “with serious mold problems, water intrusion, poor air quality, and HVAC and ventilation systems that have not been properly cleaned and maintained—issues documented in Stamford’s own Mold Task Force report, ‘How Did We Get Here?’” She testified, “As a result of working in this unsafe environment, my health has suffered, and I am concerned for the health of every student and employee who has been exposed to these conditions.”

“WE PROVIDE CLEARER STANDARDS FOR PETS IN PET STORES THANWE DO FOR CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS. WE CAN DO BETTER.” CEA Executive Director Donald Williams

regulations for pet shops. Just to underscore that point, we provide clearer standards for pets in pet stores than we do for children in schools. We can do better.”  Senator Saud Anwar, a pulmonary physician and vice-chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, confirmed, “The number of teachers we see and health-related challenges they have from their indoor environment is pretty significant. I see Department of Corrections people and teachers at the same level—that’s how bad indoor environment is in both places. And our children are in the same spaces, where they’re spending a big part of their day. The indoor environment exposure is quite significant.” Expressing optimism for the bill, he said, “I think we will probably hear agreement on this across the board—that there is a problem.” Also expressing support for the bill was Representative Tom Arnone, who added that it must address not just indoor air quality but school environmental quality as a whole. “Air quality is a misnomer,” Kolek agreed. “This is building condition quality.” To enable school districts to bring HVAC systems into the 21st century and help prevent the transmission of viruses, mold, and other toxins, Williams, Kolek, and Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health Co-chair Steve Schrag proposed the use of school bonding construction funds for building remediation. “The money is there,” said Kolek. “It’s just a matter of making it a priority. It has to be—for our kids, it has to be.”

Elementary Magnet School since 2001, said that for ten years or more, there was no explanation for the health symptoms she was experiencing, which included

Above and right: Poor indoor air quality, water intrusion, and other factors have created hidden health hazards in schools— like mold discovered in Stamford classrooms.