Education
Mold continues to plague Fall River school, according to one teacher
A teacher at the Letourneau Elementary School in Fall River attended a school committee meeting earlier this month and during the public input portion of the meeting, addressed the committee about what she says is a long-standing mold problem in her classroom.
Haley Medeiros, who has been teaching at the Anthony Street school for five years, began by speaking about the challenges she faced as a teacher over the past few years, including educating children during the COVID pandemic. But it is the mold in her classroom, according to Medeiros, that has affected her the most.
Medeiros shared that back in December of last year, the issue of mold at her school was brought before the school committee and at that time, Chief Operating Office for Fall River Public Schools, Ken Pacheco, told the committee and the public that the school was safe and the issue had been managed.
But Medeiros says that just isn’t true. Sharing her own health issues, including results from tests that show she has high levels of toxicity in her blood and body as a result of the mold. Medeiros says her C4A levels are eight times higher than normal, which means her immune system is working harder than usual to rid the body of toxins.
Despite walkthroughs with Pacheco, Medeiros says there is more work to be done to remediate the mold, which is a result of previous flooding at the school. Medeiros called upon Mayor Paul Coogan and the rest of the school committee to make a commitment to have thorough walkthroughs of each school before the 2024 – 2025 school year.
Fall River Reporter reached out to Pacheco about the allegations about the classroom mold. Pacheco told us that his office received an email from the principal at Letourneau School last winter. The principal stated that there were a few concerned teachers that thought their rooms had mold and wanted to have them tested.
According to Pacheco, the five rooms in question were tested and mold was present at above accepted levels in two of the five rooms. A restoration company was hired by the district to clean and disinfect all five rooms. The district and the MTA tested every room at Letourneau school as well. Pacheco said that more work was done to manage the issue, including hiring a roofing contractor to repair leaks and cleaning of the heating and cooling ducts. Wall to wall carpeting was removed in some locations and they also replaced 35 scatter carpets that were 9′ x 12′ in size, located in various rooms.
Fall River Reporter has submitted a request for all invoices associated with the work that was done at Letourneau School during this time.
When asked if there is a plan to check for mold in this or other schools prior to the start of the school year, Pacheco says they plan on spot checking classrooms and large spaces across the district this summer.
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J
June 21, 2024 at 6:30 am
I worked in that building when it was first built for 7 years. There has always been mold and the air quality was never great. Not surprised it is still an issue. The drains in the kitchen floor use to backup all over the floor, closets in the gym full of water.
Robert
June 21, 2024 at 9:18 am
If the roof is the problem that needs to be addressed first the rest is clean up an maintenance that’s the problem port supervision an shady work I do construction an that’s all it take again if a Reputable roofing company gets hired to fix the leaks then make sure there are fixed you wouldn’t pay someone to fix a leak in your house pay them an still have a leak ???
Chris Pacheco
June 21, 2024 at 12:25 pm
The school was built in 2008 by all Maasachusetts unions so they should be held respinsible or they need to be brought into court.. this is BS a fairly new school with mold issues.. ITS TIME TO HOLD THESE UNION DELEGATES RESPONSIBLE FOR SCREWING THE TAX PAYING PEOPLE OF FALL RIVER..
Pamela Clark
June 22, 2024 at 1:13 pm
I so agree with your comment as a tax payer. We’re they cutting corners somewhere is the question.i believe their was..and some people lined their pockets.if your taxing us and spending the $$ on schools parks etc for our further then stop cutting corners make these class rooms safe..after all kids spend half their days here
susanne.freitas
June 21, 2024 at 2:53 pm
Let me be a supervisor I’d fire everybody’s a**
William Kitchen
June 25, 2024 at 12:49 pm
While the mold issue is being addressed I looked up C4A level to find out besides mold what may raise levels that was not addressed by the school board and mayor. Some conditions associated with increased C4a levels include:
Antiphospholipid syndrome, Multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS), Lupus, and Rheumatoid arthritis. How do ww know if the educator may not have and hopefully don’t have other issues.
Liz
June 26, 2024 at 1:59 pm
My daughters attend school here and Ms.DeMedeiros is an amazing thoughtful and caring teacher who wants what’s best and the health and safety of her students. I am completely convinced that if it wasn’t for her beginning to blow the whistle on this we probably wouldn’t have a clue what was going on still. The lackadaisical response of the people involved is disgusting when we’re talking about kids, mold and their long-term health it’s completely unacceptable and it will not be in the least bit surprising when it shows up at other schools but instead of trying to find a solution to the problem without cutting corners just continue to try to brush it under the rug.