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Update: School system sues builder over Oak Ridge Elementary

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Comments (13)

Monday, August 31, 2009

(Updated Tuesday, September 1 - 12:06 am)

By J. Brian Ewing
Staff Writer

The Guilford County school board, facing expensive repairs to fix unknown environmental troubles at Oak Ridge Elementary, has sued the contractor that renovated it.

The board is suing Lyon Construction and its insurer, Federal Insurance Co., for an unspecified amount for breach of contract.

The suit alleges Lyon failed to complete all the work related to the building project, including properly installing roofs and roofing components, vapor barriers, plumbing and sewer vent pipes and insulation.

Those construction issues were noted by Turner Building Science and Design and the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, two groups the district brought in this summer to inspect Oak Ridge Elementary.

Parents and employees at the school have complained since 2005 of various health problems. The school reopened that year after Lyon completed construction and renovation to the school.

Mold has been found at the school numerous times since 2005, as recently as this summer. No health organization that has inspected the school has linked mold directly to the reported illnesses.

John Barrow, Lyon president, said his company completed all work as specified and has heard nothing from the school system on the matter since the construction was completed. He said several major changes have been made to the school’s systems, including the heating and air-conditioning system, and his company was never consulted.

“It appears to us, after four years of steps, and missteps perhaps, that they have taken, they are under tremendous public pressure and they are using us, perhaps, as a scapegoat,” Barrow said.

The Turner group and NIOSH both reported finding several areas of concern, specifically a lack of vapor barrier in the school’s basement and incorrect roof construction that could allow water in the building’s walls.

The groups also performed air quality tests and other indoor environmental tests. A final report from NIOSH isn’t expected for several months. The district has hired Turner to supervise repair work at the school.

The school system closed the school in June, and students and teachers are holding class at temporary sites on four school campuses at least until October, and more likely until after winter break.

The school board allocated about $410,000 in this year’s budget to address issues at Oak Ridge. Leo Bobadilla, the school system’s chief of operations, said he considers that money to pay for inspections to find out what needs fixing. The total cost of addressing issues at the school is hard to estimate, he said.

“Until we have a final scope of work it’s very difficult to tell someone how much that’s going to be,” he said.

School board Chairman Alan Duncan said cost is something the board needs to keep an eye on.

“I recognize it could go over the monies that have already been allocated,” Duncan said. “We hope to have a better handle on that in the next couple weeks as we get a better idea of the things that need to be done.”

Lyon has built more than a dozen schools across the Triad for Guilford County and other school districts. Lyon sued Guilford County Schools in 2005 for failing to pay for work at Dudley. The school system ended up paying the company $425,000.

Guilford County then sued Lyon for work done at Eastern Guilford Middle. The school system won $37,500 through court-ordered mediation.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

File photo (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Oak Ridge Elementary School.

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stafford5465

August 31, 2009 - 4:59 pm EDT

The School System has a whole stable of individuals that have the responsibility to oversee the work. In addition, the school system pays the designer of the system hundreds of thousands to monitor the work and to ensure that it is built in accordance with the approved plans. The school system hired a contractor to monitor the work. They had a trailer and several persons on the site to make sure the work was done correctly. Guilford County made scores of inspections of the site while it was built. They gave the system a certificate of occupancy that says everything is OK. They then released the contractor and all agreed that was done properly. Too say that all the fault lies with the construction company is a reach.

Panacea

August 31, 2009 - 7:42 pm EDT

Well, maybe. Unless a monitor is looking over the shoulder of every worker, it's hard to catch everything.

All the certificate of occupancy means is the inspectors didn't find any problems. That's not the same thing as first class work.

A better argument against this lawsuit are the own statements of GCS, which tried to convince people there was nothing wrong with Oak Ridge. Parents had to bring outside inspectors to get the ball rolling and get their kids out of that toxic environment.

TruthAboutMold

August 31, 2009 - 6:01 pm EDT

The following information has been sent to hundreds of elected officials throughout the country.

I am writing to you on behalf of millions of Americans who have been harmed by exposure to toxic mold. The following message has been sent to hundreds of elected officials including President Obama, all U.S. Senators, members of the U.S. House, the Governors of all 50 states, state legislators, state health departments, etc.

Toxic mold causes serious health problems. We need your help to get laws passed in order to ensure that the American people can get appropriate medical care and the correct information regarding the handling and remediation of toxic mold. We need laws and regulations in regard to people who test and remediate mold in order to stop the fraud and deceit that has been occurring throughout the country.

Toxic mold can happen to anyone. What if your family lost everything—your home, your health, your personal property, your family mementos, your financial security, and your children’s sense of safety?

For 50 years, the tobacco industry denied the truth about the health effects of tobacco. How long will the insurance industry and other stakeholders be allowed to deny the truth about the health effects of toxic mold? We need to expose the truth now and educate the public about the proper way to handle mold problems in our homes, schools and businesses. If your family was exposed to toxic mold, wouldn’t you want laws in place to protect your loved ones? This is all we are asking. We need your leadership and action on this very important issue.

The following information will give you a good place to start in understanding the issues that need to be addressed. These ten items are a very small sample of the thousands of documents available on this topic. I thought these items would be most helpful in your efforts to create new laws and regulations about mold-related issues. You might also review the mold legislation that was proposed by Representative John Conyers.

1. The following paper has an insightful discussion of whether mold contamination in homes can be regulated. “Can Mold Contamination of Homes be Regulated–Lessons Learned from Radon and Lead Policies”? The answer is YES.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es0620585

2. The State of California issued mold remediation guidelines. This is one of the most up-to-date reports available. It contains references to several important articles about the health effects of toxic mold. The U.S. Navy also has mold remediation guidelines.

http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/06/01/06-001.pdf

http://www-nehc.med.navy.mil/downloads/prevmed/katrina/ihfom_ch13-3.pdf

3. The State of Nevada recently passed legislation designating September 2009 as toxic mold awareness month, and the State of Arkansas passed legislation regarding standards and qualifications for mold investigators. You could use this information as a starting point for one part of your legislation, but you would want to get input from experts.

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/75th2009/Bills/ACR/ACR7_EN.pdf

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Acts/Act1467.pdf

4. The U.S. Surgeon General just announced the federal government’s new Healthy Home Initiative which discusses mold and mold toxins, along with lead paint and radon, and other issues that can affect the indoor environment in homes.

http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/healthyhomes/calltoactiontopromoteh...

5. The Center for School Mold Help has a lot of valuable information about mold in schools and also has an excellent article discussing how certain stakeholders are trying to hide the truth about the health effects of toxic mold. Another group, Homeowners Against Deficient Dwellings, is focused on water damage and mold problems caused by construction defects.

http://www.schoolmoldhelp.org

https://www.schoolmoldhelp.org/content/view/1639/46/

http://www.hadd.com/

6. There are many books available on this subject including these two books:

Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control” This book was published by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists in 1999.

“Molds and Mycotoxins–Papers from an International Symposium” This book was edited by Kaye Kilburn, M.D. and was published by Heldref Publications in 2004.

7. James Craner, M.D., has published several good articles and reports on this topic, including “A Critique of the ACOEM Statement on Mold.” Another leading expert is Jack Thrasher, Ph.D., who is a toxicologist.

http://www.drcraner.com

http://www.drcraner.com/images/ACritiqueoftheACOEMStatementonMold.pdf

http://www.drthrasher.org

8. The following links are from military textbooks. The first one is Chapter 34 on Trichothecene Mycotoxins, and the second one is Chapter 4 on Toxins (which includes information about mycotoxins). If the U.S. military can admit that mycotoxins are dangerous, then why are the insurance companies allowed to deny that mycotoxins cause health problems.

http://www.envirochex.com/Downloads/Chapter34_Military_Medicine.pdf

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1018.5/MR1018.5.chap4.html

9. The University of Connecticut published a handbook in 2004 titled “Guidance for Clinicians on the Recognition and Management of Health Effects Related to Mold Exposure and Moisture Indoors.”

http://oehc.uchc.edu/images/PDFs/MOLDGUIDE.pdf

10. Ritchie Shoemaker, M.D., is one of the leading doctors in the country who are helping people who have been harmed by exposure to toxic mold. This is the link for Dr. Shoemaker’s website:

http://www.biotoxin.info

Toxic mold is a very serious health threat, and we need to do everything we can to help protect all Americans. I hope this information is helpful as you continue your work to develop laws and regulations about mold-related issues.

DaveW

August 31, 2009 - 8:39 pm EDT

truthaboutmold did the research for certain. Great job!

theroadrunner

August 31, 2009 - 9:07 pm EDT

truthaboutmold has too much time on his hands for certain. Great job boring us to death!

dhoggard

August 31, 2009 - 9:24 pm EDT

Completely agree with the above comment. It is a stretch to single out the General Contractor. It is the highly paid duty of the designer (architect) to a ensure a strict adherence to the plans and specs.

Also... sounds to me like truthaboutmold is selling something.

The proliferation of mold concerns mirrors the "improvements" make in the last decades to the building code in the name of energy efficiency. These "code improvements" have caused new structures to be constructed so airtight that they can't 'breath'. Older structures, for the most part, inherently 'breath' and have few problems with mold or other moisture retention problems.

The law of unintended consequences applies.

GSOMAN

August 31, 2009 - 9:47 pm EDT

THETRUTHABOUTMOLD did a great job of trying to educate us all relative to the dangers of mold. I am sorry it has fallen on deaf ears.

The truth is simple, mold has been found and it is directly related to the construction practices employed. The idea that current buidings are built too tight is rubbish. A building breathes under the tighter restrictions but not through the walls as is the case with older homes and buildings.

This will be a landmark case.

jbcarper

August 31, 2009 - 10:03 pm EDT

I presume that GSOMAN will not be serving on the jury if this goes to trial. Obviously a verdict has already been rendered that the construction was faulty and the contractors are to blame. Why wait for evidence and a trial, jail them all tomorrow.

Mold comes from humidity, warmth, and a growth media. With North Carolina humidity, I'm surprised more places don't exhibit mold growth.

There is at least some truth to the idea that the more tightly sealed a building is, the more likely mold will take hold. To prevent that from happening, an appropriate number of air replacement cycles per hour/day has to take place. To allow air turnover without losing the cool/heat of the indoor air is not inexpensive. It requires substantial heat/cool exchangers to be put into place. I don't know if this school has those devices or not. Were they specified in the contract?

I'm willing to wait for a real verdict. How about you?

brian444

September 1, 2009 - 2:33 am EDT

"No health organization that has inspected the school has linked mold directly to the reported illnesses." Nor have the reported illnesses been documented as statistically significant. Minus scientific evidence of any kind, we're left with a scenario easily explicable (like so many before) as the effect of mass hysteria.

OREmbarassedMom

September 2, 2009 - 12:29 pm EDT

brian444 - I agree with you, the reported illnesses seem to be statistically insignificant, when compared against the entire population of the school. And no scientific evidence to confirm that it is the school - why not test the homes of these children to make sure it's not something in their home environment? I do feel sorry for the parents of the kids and teachers who are sick, but there truly is an atmosphere of hysteria up here about the school. I'd like someone to do a health survey on all these little kids who are having to get on a bus at 6:30 now to pass through the shuttle system at NW Middle, so they can get to school by 7:50 - I bet you'd find lots more kids are getting headaches now!
I just hope & pray that we can get back into our school by the end of this year, and when we do, that these parents will be satisfied so we can finish our school year on a positive note. I'm sick of seeing the negative coverage of our school and school system.

OREproudparent

September 2, 2009 - 9:52 pm EDT

OREmbarrassedMom - Let's see ........if you (if you're a teacher) or your child were were one of the 'INSIGNIFICANT' ones dealing with nosebleeds, respistory issues, mold related allergies, severe degradation of eyesight, etc. (all potentially related to the environmental issues that have been reported in the past and now being confirmed) ...you would be at the front of the pack looking for answers and a remedy. Don't be so quick to minimize the SIGNIFICANT health issues identified at the school through GCS surveys. Remember some of the effects of this exposure may not surface for a few years after you leave the environment. I wish you well. Don't minimize the health issues of others. The school environmet directly affected many children, teachers and administrators. Try to step away from the 'small town small mindedness' and try some empathy.

OREmbarassedMom

September 3, 2009 - 10:39 am EDT

This is the kind of negativity that I'm tired of. You're taking our comments and twisting them around. I NEVER said the sick kids and teachers were 'insignificant', it's just that the numbers reported in the health survey did not reflect that a majority of the kids at the school were having any health issues. So maybe more investigation needed to be done on the affected childrens' environments, as well as the school. Mold is everywhere, and some people are more allergic to it than others. I don't minimize anyone's health issues. But I do ask that you recognize this closing of our school has affected ALL of our kids now, not necessarily in a positive way for a lot of them. If there were some scientific evidence to support the link between illnesses & something at our school, then I would have had no problem with the closing.
At this point, there's nothing we can do but wait, but I would like to see everyone be civil to each other, regardless of your opinion. And let's all show some positive attitudes about getting back into our own school, especially in front of the kids.