Through testing conducted by teachers, we have discovered mold within our classrooms. These findings are primarily in the 400 building on our campus.
Up until this point we are unaware of the severity of the issue which is a cause for concern for the wellbeing of our teachers and students.
Mr. Felix, SEGA English teacher, in room 412 said, “I’m not surprised that there is [mold], mostly because I’ve been in this room for five years and within those years, my childhood asthma has resurfaced and has gotten bad.”
This could be a potential hazard for both our staff and students if it is a harmful mold. I believe having mold in these buildings is a big deal considering that the 400 building is a very busy building, and this could give rise to health concerns and issues..
“The smaller picture if we don’t get this solved is kids being affected by it, like subtle colds here and there, but the bigger problem could be respiratory issues,” added Mr. Felix.
A teacher who would like to remain anonymous, Teacher (B) in the 400, shares how they discovered mold, their testing process, and how it affected them as a teacher.
“I was suspicious of mold as of last year when I kept getting recurring sinus infections,” adds Teacher (B).
They share that at one point, they had a sinus infection that lasted for four months and that all these sinus problems began when they started teaching in that building.
Teacher (B) requested admin hire professional mold testers come in and test the classroom of the teacher. Teacher (B’s) request was accepted and the company’s testing results were negative for toxic mold
The Legal Information Institute defines toxic mold “as considered deadly to humans.” “ The teacher shares that they ordered an at-home test to check their room and also other 400 teachers’ classrooms as well.
“It’s difficult to find the actual sample [of mold] because we weren’t sure where the mold is growing,” added Teacher B.
All teachers have expressed how much support they have gotten from administration encouraging the teacher to keep on going with testing for toxic mold.
This teacher B has struggled extensively with sickness problems since coming into the 400 building, further restricting them from being able to teach their students.
The process of finding the mold was that some art teachers in the 400 building scattered petri dishes around their classrooms; in cabinets, radiators and under sinks. They left the dishes open for about 30 minutes to an hour. After that time frame, they pulled them out and put the lid on them for another hour and this was the outcome., See images above.
Yes, it may be true that students aren’t in the building as much as teachers, but the presence of mold on our campus, toxic or not, is not good. The teachers interviewed believe that there is potentially toxic/unhealthy mold in the school building, and are continuing to test to try and find where it is.
As a student, I haven’t had many classrooms in the 400. But, if I did have classes in the 400, I would be cautious as we don’t know if there is toxic mold.
Another anonymous Teacher (A) in the 400 said, “[The mold] has been a suspicion for years but recently we got tested for it.”
This teacher also said, “When I first started here I would get sick a lot with sinus infections or sinus problems. After years of being in the 400 I’ve gotten better.” The teacher considered that the mold may not affect the students as much as it does the staff considering teachers are in their classroom 8-9 hours a day. This is a really great point to remember.
Mr. Newman, a Special Education 10th-12th grade ELA teacher said, “If the mold is not dealt with it can make the building a not so pleasant place for people to be in.” Mr. Newman is also a Teacher’s Association of Long Beach (TALB) Millikan Site Representative so he made the point that it’s very important for staff to be protected from this and taken care of.
All teachers that I interviewed said they didn’t know anything out of the ordinary among students or reports of students being sick, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t students out there who are getting sick more than they usually are due to the potential mold. The petri dishes found mold but the professional toxic mold tests were negative.
Dr. Yu, Millikan’s Vice Principal shared that he was notified of the mold back in November and has had a team working on it to figure out what kind of mold we have. He said, “We had a mold inspection and did not find anything hazardous in the building. If we were to find something hazardous we would move both staff and students as quickly as possible.”
He expresses how important it is to keep our staff and students safe saying, “I wouldn’t want our students, our staff, or myself to be in an environment that isn’t safe so I would hope that I can trust [the mold inspection team] their assessment or their work.”
If it turns out there is hazardous mold in our buildings, this could cause potential future problems for our staff and students. However even then, there’s already problems now with staff getting sick.
Even if it is just one staff member being sick due to this, who’s to say this will be something that gets better.
