SCARBOROUGH – Asbestos, mold and radon problems at Wentworth Intermediate School in Scarborough have officials scrambling to improve conditions at the aging school.
Wentworth Principal Anne Mayre Dexter sent out a letter to parents on Sept. 16 outlining what is being done to find a permanent solution. The options and their associated costs will be presented to the Scarborough School Board at a meeting tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 7. The school board’s Capital Improvement Projects Committee will discuss the options and make a recommendation for the school board to consider, also at the Oct. 7 meeting.
“I anticipate and certainly hope the school board will be able to direct Todd (Jepson, director of buildings and grounds) in a certain direction,” Dexter said. “I can’t speak about what that is at this time, but I expect a decision at the meeting.”
According to a Sept. 16 letter sent by Dexter to parents and guardians, some of the options to improve the situation include sealing off all windows above the windows that are able to be opened, finding a way to either seal the existing glazing or remove it and replace it with new glazing, or replace some of the windows.
Because disturbing asbestos increases the risk of exposure, the Environmental Protection Agency’s longstanding policy has been that asbestos is best left in place.
Dexter said Jepson is currently soliciting bids for two projects to cure the asbestos problem. The first, to remove the existing asbestos, and the second, to replace the windows where the asbestos has been found.
Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle said whatever gets decided, there is not enough money in the school budget to fund the project.
“Ultimately, we have to find a way to find the funding to do this,” he said. “We don’t have the money in the budget to do a project of this size.”
Doyle said it would be up to the Town Council to approve the cost of the projects.
Dexter said she hopes the asbestos problem at the school, which was built in the mid-1960s and is used by 730 students and 130 staff members, can be fixed by November or December.
“We are working as hard as we can to get this fixed as quickly as possible and in the most safe and efficient way we can,” Dexter said.
She said that in an effort to share information with the public, updates about the situation and its progress will be posted on Scarborough School Department’s website.
According to the EPA, asbestos is a fibrous mineral used in construction materials such as roofing, siding, shingles, pipe and boiler insulation, as well as floor and ceiling tiles. If undisturbed, asbestos poses no health risk. The health risk occurs when the fibers are touched or breathed in and trapped in the lungs. Exposure, according to the National Cancer Institute, can increase risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma and can be associated with other cancers. How much asbestos an individual is exposed to and the source and chemical makeup of the asbestos determine the risk level.
The National Cancer Institute indicates exposure symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, hoarseness, persistent and worsening cough, blood coughed up, pain or tightness of the chest, difficulty swallowing, swelling of the neck and face, loss of appetite, fatigue or weight loss.
On Aug. 6, just prior to the new school year, Northeast Test Consultants, a hygiene and safety consulting firm in Westbrook, discovered a small percentage of asbestos – 2.7 percent – in the window glazing in the oldest part of the school. The asbestos was disturbed when windows were replaced in the north wing and the art, offices and special education spaces.
In the process of replacing the windows it was found that the glazing was flaking and falling off.
“This is a puzzle,” Dexter said. “We’ve got an old building with many different parts to it. We thought we were doing something positive by putting in storm windows and it kind of backfired on us.”
Tests done by Northeast Test Consultant indicate that the 26 rooms affected by the asbestos are safe to occupy. The asbestos found has since been removed, but to limit further problems, Doyle has ordered that the windows stayed closed until a permanent solution can be found. Other windows in the school are newer and can be opened without fear of exposure.
Aymie Hardesty, a Wentworth parent and school committee candidate, said closing the windows is “not acceptable for any length of time and was not acceptable in the heat of the first week of school.”
Based on previous air quality testing, the risk of asbestos exposure in that section of the school is not an airborne issue, but rather a debris issue, meaning students and staff are not in danger of breathing in the asbestos particles. The risk is from touching the glazing when it crumbles and falls off the window.
Hardesty said she is convinced the school has done what it could through the years to mitigate the asbestos problem.
“From what I can ascertain, one of the things that Scarborough seems to have done correctly is comply with all asbestos regulations,” she said.
However, asbestos, Hardesty said, might be the least of the school’s worries.
She said various parts of the school test high for radon, mold and other bacteria. Like asbestos, mold can cause serious health issues as well, especially allergy and respiratory concerns. Mold grows when airborne spores find moisture.
Moisture can enter schools through leaky roofs, pipes, windows, foundation and other openings, as well as through poor drainage or through painting, carpet cleaning or high humidity.
Mold is known to cause irritated eyes, skin, throat and nose, and allergic reactions according to the EPA.
The EPA also reports after smoking cigarette, radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer. It is a naturally occurring gas, which seeps into buildings from surrounding soil. It is indiscernible by sight and smell and can only be detected through testing. It can be mitigated through proper ventilation.
Dexter said the levels of radon in spaces occupied by students and staff have never been considered unacceptable. The tunnel that connects various wings of the building and where much of the mold has been found has increased levels of radon, she said, but that space is not intended for student or staff use.
A number of actions have already been taken to reduce the mold found in the school. Dexter said this summer a drainage system was installed near the school’s west wing to divert the groundwater that was seeping into the building. Dexter said one-third of the tunnel has been cleaned. Jepson has earmarked money devoted to maintenance issues at the school to fund the completion of the project. The work on the tunnel will begin the first of October.
Despite the work already done to make Wentworth a healthier school, Hardesty said simply being in a school with such issues has caused her son serious health problems.
“I have a child coming home with headaches, sinus issues and a red face,” she said. “He’s stuffed up and is barely able to function some days until he lays down for an hour or so. By 5 p.m., he seems to be OK and ready to get up and do homework, read, dinner, etc.
“He tells me that it is usually around noon that he gets ill,” she added.
According Hardesty, the school has had problems for years.
“From my investigation, this has been an issue far longer than I ever knew – even from when my college-aged child was a student there,” she said. “It just hasn’t been reported to the public.”
She said perhaps residents would have voted differently in 2006 – when they overwhelmingly rejected a plan to overhaul the school – had they known about the condition inside the school.
Scarborough voters on Tuesday approved a $39.1 million bond to
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