THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508270041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE AND ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 188 lines
When Karri Bender's 9-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn, began complaining of headaches and stomachaches last fall, the Virginia Beach mother put it down to nervous jitters. The family had moved to the area the summer before and enrolled Kaitlyn in Strawbridge Elementary School.
``My first thought was, well, it's a new school, a new area,'' Bender said. ``She's kind of afraid of new situations at times, and I thought it would just take her some time to get used to it.''
But when the severe skin rashes and then the chest pains started, Bender knew her daughter was suffering from more than nerves. And when she realized that Kaitlyn wasn't the only one getting sick, and that there were concerns over pollutants in Strawbridge's air, she demanded and got a transfer for Kaityln to another school.
The symptoms disappeared.
The Benders' story is only one to emerge from a struggle, gaining momentum across the country, over managing air quality in schools, offices and other buildings. The problem is as basic as the air we breathe and as complicated as the medical, legal and engineering debates it has generated.
Nationwide, 1.4 million buildings have indoor air quality pollution problems, according to the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In Hampton Roads, eight schools in Virginia Beach, three in Chesapeake and one in Portsmouth - most built within the past 10 years - have reported some degree of problem.
For Karri Bender, it comes down to the health of her daughter and her son, who will start kindergarten this fall. He will go to Corporate Landing School, where his sister is enrolled.
``It seems kind of funny that my daughter never suffered any symptoms before she went to (Strawbridge), and as soon as I took her out of that school, her symptoms went away. To me, that's too much of a coincidence,'' Bender said. ``You ask any of the parents that have had sick kids, and they'll tell you. They've gone through hell.''
Parents and staff members in the Beach schools have been the most vocal in their concerns, but all three districts are at various points in investigating and correcting problems most often related to air flow and humidity in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems.
Complaints about air quality began cropping up throughout the nation in the mid-1970s, when efforts to conserve energy because of the oil embargo resulted in ``buttoned-up buildings,'' according to Jerry Tulis, director of the biohazards sciences program at Duke University Medical Center. Some structures were built without operable windows, for instance.
Before that, most public buildings were cleared by fresh air, Tulis said. Suddenly, 70 percent or more of the inside air was being recycled. As a result, improperly designed or maintained ventilation systems became a problem in a country where most of the residents spend about 90 percent of their time inside.
In this area, add high humidity to the equation and the problem escalates.
For most of the local schools, too much humidity is making its way into the buildings, creating pools of moisture where mold and mildew flourish. At the same time, fresh air is shut out, eliminating much of the cleansing air and increasing levels of carbon dioxide, the gas we all exhale.
In Portsmouth, where problems have developed at three-year-old Churchland High School, air-quality testing has been completed and the results are expected in September, according to Rock Bell, assistant city engineer. The architectural company that designed the building and the mechanical engineering company responsible for the ventilation system have cooperated, Bell said.
While the district waits for the test results, temporary common-sense measures are being used at the school to help clear the air - such as leaving doors open this summer on days with low humidity.
``Since we don't really know what the problem is at this point, we really haven't done anything to fix it,'' Bell said.
Steve Gilbert, administrative director for operations with the Chesapeake division, described efforts to fix air quality at Butts Road, Great Bridge and Greenbrier intermediate schools as a ``four-year, ongoing experiment.'' The division has tried running air conditioning 24 hours a day and opening and closing dampers at different intervals, and it will test a new device in two classrooms when school reopens in September.
Like Portsmouth, Chesapeake has been working in collaboration with the engineers and architects who designed the schools.
``We're going to get (this problem) licked,'' Gilbert said.
Consultants from the Indoor Environment Program at Virginia Tech were brought in by the Virginia Beach school district to look at its ailing buildings. Among things they reported at various schools were visible mold and high bacteria and carbon dioxide levels.
The combination can make some people sick, according to Dr. Kevin Cooper, a professor of medicine and acting chief of pulmonary disease at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond.
If symptoms like headaches, eye irritation, breathing difficulties and sinus pressure occur when a person is in a particular building, and generally disappear when the person is away, Cooper said, you've probably got a building-related illness.
``Usually when there is a cluster of people who fit the symptoms . . . there's usually a case of sick-building syndrome,'' Cooper said.
In rare cases, an illness that begins with a sick building will become a long-term health problem, such as asthma. Generally, however, fixing the cause fixes the illness, Cooper said.
Some skeptics argue that the same molds and mildews blamed for the illnesses are present throughout the environment. They question why everyone in a building doesn't get sick or why other buildings with similar designs don't have problems.
Some even attribute the symptoms to a hysterical reaction. Some school officials in other divisions around the state initially dismissed claims as excuses by students who wanted more attention from their parents or time off from school.
While Cooper acknowledges that there is no objective test for patients suffering from sick-building syndrome, he said carefully tracking the history of a person's symptoms will support the diagnosis.
``When you talk to the doctors who spend time with the patients, the doctors believe it,'' he said.
Concerns over liability undoubtedly play a part in some of the official hesitation to acknowledge illnesses linked to indoor air quality. In other districts, staff members have filed disability claims, and frustrated parents have threatened lawsuits.
Monitoring of the air in public schools is not mandated by state or local government. While 1993 state building codes doubled the amount of outside air required in all new buildings, no one measures to ensure that standards are being met in schools unless there is a request or a problem, according to Hunter Barnes, an architectural consultant with the Virginia Department of Education.
A spate of complaints and health problems in schools throughout the state has led to the removal of classroom pets, replacement of carpets with tile and changes in heating and ventilation systems.
In Henrico County, one elementary school was closed for 1 1/2 years after teachers and students complained of nausea, dizziness and other ailments. The problems developed after extensive renovation, and the building could be used again only after dehumidifiers were installed, carpeting replaced and other measures taken.
Many parents, students and staff members thought Virginia Beach officials were slow to respond to complaints about the air at Salem High, dating back to shortly after the campus opened six years ago. Some students took to wearing surgical masks to classes in protest.
Since then, the district has set up a community committee on the problem, held meetings with parents and staff members and brought in a variety of consultants to help identify and correct the problem.
A possible solution for two of the schools is in the works and efforts to find long-term remedies at the others continue.
Except for Shriver and Holland Associates, the division has sued all of the architectural companies that designed the buildings. Spokesmen for the companies contacted declined comment.
John Kalocay, the district's chief operations officer, estimated that the school division already has spent millions of dollars in its efforts to clean up the air.
``We are committed to improving the air quality in those buildings,'' Kalocay said.
However, the district has stopped short of linking any of the illnesses directly to the buildings.
``There is no evidence to lead us to believe the buildings are harmful or unsafe for human occupation,'' he said.
Such words do not convince Jamie Carlton, the mother of two girls at Strawbridge. She did not really pay much attention to their complaints of chest pains and headaches until she heard about the air-quality problems.
``I'm a nurse, and I deal with this stuff all the time. And I know that people sometimes can make up or exaggerate an illness. But a kid doesn't know that. One that totally loves to go to school, and then stops and complains about being sick all the time, that's not all in her mind,'' Carlton said.
Despite officials' promises that any student in the eight affected schools would be granted automatic transfers if they suffered symptoms, Carlton said she has had a difficult time getting permission to switch her daughters from Strawbridge to Corporate Landing Elementary, a newer school that has shown no sign of poor air quality.
She has already enrolled her 5-year-old son, Rashda, in private school for kindergarten, because his doctor said his severe asthma and allergies probably would be aggravated by poor air quality at Strawbridge.
Carlton said she will enroll her two daughters in private school, too, if they are not granted transfers.
``I'm a taxpayer here, so why should I have to go that route?'' she asked. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MORT FRYMAN/Staff
Jim Rudiger of Virginia Air Balance hooks up a computer to check the
cooling system at Red Mill Elementary.
Graphics
IN HAMPTON ROADS, 12 SCHOOLS HAVE REPORTED PROBLEMS RELATED TO
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION.
STEVE STONE/Staff
THE ARCHITECTS
SOURCE: City school divisions
[For complete graphics, please see microfilm]
KEYWORDS: SICK BUILDINGS SCHOOLS by CNB