THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170568
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Tired of waiting for answers, parents Thursday night told school administrators to speed up their three-year timetable for fixing the city's ``sick schools.''
``We've known about the problem for four years, and I'm a little hard-pressed to say seven years later we'll solve it,'' said Tom Swanson, a Salem High School parent. ``It seems a lot of information is around, and nobody has any answers for it.''
But school officials said they needed time to monitor the eight schools and determine whether the renovations they're making are working.
``Buildings need to be decontaminated, ducts need to be removed - it's a very complicated procedure,'' said Paul Garrison, the school system's director of environmental services.
``We're not willing to waste money on a quick fix that's not going to work.''
Nearly 40 parents, teachers and students, mostly from Salem, attended a meeting at the Virginia Beach Central Branch Library to discuss health problems at the schools and strategies to solve them. The school has been plagued by mold and mildew because of poor air circulation and heating.
Nancy Ferguson said her son Ian had left Salem to attend school in Michigan after losing 25 percent of his lung capacity. Nathan Haywood, a 16-year-old junior at Salem, said he'd missed about one year of school because of shortness of breath and difficulties getting to sleep and waking up.
``It's the same thing I've heard with my friends,'' he said. ``When they get home, they fall asleep or they have headaches all the time.''
Ferguson said 49 responses to a Salem questionnaire showed that the most common symptoms were headaches, eye irritation, congestion, drowsiness and sinus problems.
``What we're dealing with is a medical emergency,'' said Dr. Louis Cafiero, another Salem parent. ``. . . It's not that we want this done yesterday. We want it done as soon as possible, and we want a dramatic thing done.''
School officials plan to install new air systems in parts of the eight schools and test their effectiveness before expanding them. In addition, Salem will get new windows by May, Garrison said.
In the interim, they have added humidifiers to the schools and allowed students who fear health problems to transfer to other locations. But some parents Thursday night complained that these measures did little good.
Mikhal McPherson, a Salem freshman, said: ``Most teachers don't use them (the humidifiers) because they're so noisy. Maybe five minutes into class, and they're turned off.''
Carole Widmer, a Salem teacher who said she suffers from asthma and bronchitis, said: ``I have yet to see anyone monitoring what is happening with the humidifiers.''
But officials said that school custodians checked them regularly and that the humidifiers are on full-blast most of the day and night.
Parents also said it's not that simple for a teenager to transfer to another school.
Karla Popp's son, James, a Salem freshman, sometimes misses school Fridays because of health problems. But he doesn't want to switch schools. ``His coaches want him to stay there. He likes Salem. A lot of kids like Salem. We need something quicker because he wants to spend all four years there.''
Ferguson had the same problem. ``I listened to him cry every night when I talked to him,'' she said. ``But I had to do what was best for him. They're going to rant and rave and cry, but you're responsible for that life.'' by CNB