Teachers in one of America’s largest public school systems are being sickened by mold growing in their classrooms – and their complaints to administrators have gone unanswered for two years.
More than 700 employees of Broward County schools in South Florida, near Miami, have filed complaints about mushrooms and spores growing in their classrooms and causing adverse health effects since 2015.
They claim the mold is making school employees experience headaches, watery eyes, rashes, asthma complications, sinus issues and itchiness.
Teachers are urging the school district to address the problem.
Meanwhile, their union has announced plans to independently investigate the dangers mold presents the teachers and the schoolchildren exposed to it.
Employees from two school systems in South Florida have complained that their classrooms are infected with mold, which is causing them to experience adverse health effects (file photo)
Mold, which grows in places with moisture such as wooded areas, can cause people to have a variety of reactions.
Examples of these reactions include stuffiness, wheezing, coughing and eye, throat and skin irritation. Some people who are allergic to mold may experience more severe symptoms.
Additionally, people whose immune systems have been compromised might develop serious infections in their lungs, should they be exposed to mold.
The CDC has said that otherwise healthy children can become sick if exposed to mold indoors. And studies have warned that children who are exposed to mold can develop asthma.
Teachers in Broward County are concerned about the health of school employees and children.
‘If you’ve got people that are off work all summer long and they’re feeling better and they’re breathing better and they get back to school and they’re feeling sick, that’s got to be a sign of something,’ said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, according to Fox News.
She added: ‘I have schools telling me they’ve got mushrooms growing out of air vents, spores in students’ desks, spores on musical instruments, spores coming out of the cracks in the floor, on furniture, on walls, in the halls.’
And Broward County is not the only school district that has recently complained of mold: neighboring county Miami-Dade has done the same.
The mold problem in Miami-Dade schools was so bad that a principal at Miami Sunset Senior High School abruptly resigned, Fox News reported.
‘Aside from our colleagues being in these schools with mold, the children are exposed to it, Fusco said.
‘We’re asking people to take this seriously. We’re not just looking out for our colleagues. We’re looking out for our children,’ she added.
The Broward County Teachers Union is planning to bring in experts to inspect County schools in the next few weeks.