dec-jan

INVESTIGATING

DECEMBER 2018–JANUARY 2019 CEA ADVISOR 7

and teachers and the safety of their environment is the focus. So we got a huge team together, including SEA members and parents, and we started

involved a lot more than

students lost only four days of school. This outside support, and the way teachers stood together, really built up our school community.” Westover remains closed, and all 700 students and 100 faculty and staff have been relocated to a refurbished office facility for the remainder of the year—a space that Stramandinoli describes as bright, airy, clean, and healthy. In a matter of days, the office building was reconfigured for classroom use, new bus schedules were created, and 265 students who formerly walked to school were now put on buses. Contaminated objects from the old building were destroyed; others were cleaned, tested, and shipped to the new location. New supplies were ordered. “Teachers will be reimbursed for materials they purchased and lost due to mold exposure,” says Phanos. Once they finished packing and unpacking their own rooms, teachers went from room to room helping their colleagues set up. After hosting a four-hour evening orientation for parents at their new site, Westover teachers got up the next morning and welcomed their students back to school. It was November 14, just over a week before Thanksgiving. The task force set up an email address and encouraged all Stamford teachers to report evidence or suspicions of unhealthy working conditions—with photographs, if possible. A link on the city’s website directs teachers to information about affected buildings, including test results, work plans, and daily meeting minutes of the task force, which is committed to testing and reporting results and remediation plans. SEA continuously communicated with its members the importance of reporting suspicions or evidence of mold to SEA’s president and the task force—generating hundreds of emails and photographs. Phanos also shared protocol to follow for those who suspected they were suffering symptoms of mold exposure. Broader impact Kolek says the mold problem plaguing the city’s schools is not unique to Stamford. Mold has been reported in cities and towns across Connecticut. In September, Westport’s Coleytown Middle School closed for the remainder of the school year because of an ongoing mold problem. “Last year, many school budgets were slashed because of the threat of drastic ECS funding cuts,” says Kolek. “In town after town, we saw the effects on staff, students, and critical programs. Now we’re seeing the impact, very literally, at the building level. As buildings get older, this is only going to happen more frequently. If education is going to be a priority, then we need to invest in the health and well-being of our students, teachers, and schools.” “The health and safety of our students and teachers must always be a top priority,” says Quinn. “Without that, teaching and learning are not possible.”

simply relying on indoor air quality tests.” Kelly Lane, a reading teacher at Westover for the past 13 years, was one of the many educators who spoke up at board of education meetings. Lane

attending board of education meetings. We were telling our stories.”

“SEA Chair of Grievance Sandra Peterkin and I also made contact with administrators to see what their plan was and to advocate for change,” says Phanos. “We met with the superintendent and deputy superintendent, and I laid out all the safety and health issues I was made aware of by teachers in many schools throughout the district. Because of the significant number of teachers and classrooms affected, I also contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, CONN- OSHA.” Meanwhile, Kolek and CEA UniServ representative Sharon Quinn gathered additional information and fielded teachers’ calls. Many of the teachers Kolek has spoken with have filed or are preparing to file workers’ compensation claims with CEA’s assistance for their exposure to mold and the health problems that resulted from that exposure. Teachers speak out Taking their concerns to their union representatives, who, in turn, took

Members of Westover’s fifth-grade team, including building rep Heather Stramandinoli (far left), find relief in their new location.

asked to have every room in the school inspected.

that send her to Greenwich Hospital three times a week for rehabilitation and require daily hour-long regimens to strengthen her lungs. “This is not exactly how I pictured my golden years,” she told the board. As a result of teachers standing together, all 90 rooms at Westover were tested. A community rallies On Saturday, October 26, Phanos, Quinn, and Stramandinoli accompanied a professional hygienist and his colleagues who did moisture readings, air quality tests, and a visual inspection of every room at Westover. The mayor, board of education president, deputy superintendent, principal, and president of the paraprofessionals’ association were also present, and discussions revolved around the possibility of closing the school. Three days later, test results started coming back, with many readings revealing amplified levels of mold spores. Immediately, a special task force was formed, and the investigation of Westover went beyond air quality tests and cursory visual inspections. At Stramandinoli’s urging, drywall was cut out, wallpaper was peeled back, and air vents were examined. The mold and water intrusion were far more serious than school officials had realized. “It was a much bigger deal than anyone thought,” Stramandinoli says. “The HVAC system was broken. There were problems with the drainage system. A water pipe was broken and backing up onto the first floor. It was a multitude of issues, and they knew now it was something they couldn’t just put a Band-Aid on.” Further test results made it clear that Westover classes could not be relocated in their current building because of widespread mold. The task force moved to close the school for the remainder of the school year. It was an important victory for teachers. “When we teamed together, we were no longer one voice,” says Stramandinoli. “We were many.” Ensuring a brighter future In the wake of the school closure, says Stramandinoli, “There was also an outpouring of support from the community: How can we help? What can we do?” In the days between the closing of the old Westover building and relocation to a new site, she says, “Field trips were organized for our students. They were welcomed into the nature center, historical society, and arboretum. The library took in many of our students, and Chelsea Piers Sports Complex housed us for a day. Because of this,

“We desperately need two things restored,” she said. “One, peace of mind. And two, trust. We have no peace of mind that where we work is a safe place. As someone who’s in almost every room, I literally find myself looking up at the ceiling tiles, wondering if there’s mold behind there.” During nearly two hours of public comment at one board of education meeting, parents joined teachers in describing their fear for the safety of their children and their anger over the district’s perceived lack of timeliness. Children, they said, would arrive home from school with

CEA attorneys Adrienne DeLucca and Melanie Kolek (at right) help Stamford teachers understand the workers’ compensation process.

those concerns to every entity from the Stamford Board of Education to CONN-OSHA and the Workers’ Compensation Commission, teachers formed a united front and made a difference for their students and their own health and safety. “With CONN-OSHA’s involvement,” Kolek says, “Stamford began a comprehensive analysis of the problems plaguing Westover and other schools in the district. This

migraines that left them unable to eat dinner. Some had coughs during the week that disappeared over the weekend, when they were away from school. In a heart-wrenching account of a retirement very different from the one she had imagined, former Westover teacher Terry Lohmeyer described the pulmonary disease she suffers from after a 27-year teaching career—with respiratory problems

LOOKING AHEAD: A GROWING PROBLEM AND A LEGISLATIVE FIX Stamford and Westport aren’t the only school districts experiencing sick buildings. Concerns have recently been raised in Bridgeport, East Hartford, Manchester, Naugatuck, Orange, and Ridgefield, and the list is growing. To head off problems such as these, CEA is developing legislative solutions that would ensure a timely, appropriate response to health and safety issues in schools, including the presence of mold, lead, and extreme temperatures. CEA is also researching school construction policies that could prevent new or renovated schools from becoming unhealthy. CEA’s Legislative Commission, which is comprised of teachers from across the state and helps determine CEA’s legislative agenda, has identified this issue and raised it to the highest priority. CEA leaders have also begun to inform Connecticut’s newly elected governor and legislators about this critical issue. In doing so, CEA has further drawn attention to the devastating cuts to ECS funding under the previous administration that ultimately undermined facilities, programs, and staffing levels at many of Connecticut’s public schools.