Big Island school in ‘crisis’ with mold, rats, says teachers union

Years of worsening problems with mold, rats, termites, structural damage and other health and safety issues have reached a “crisis” level at Holualoa Elementary School on Hawaii island, educators and parents say, and the state teachers union is calling for more transparency and immediate increased help from the state.

A virtual news conference organized by the Hawaii State Teachers Association on Monday included a video of the school showing images of dark-colored mold growing across walls and ceilings, rat droppings on classroom materials, rubber slippers apparently gnawed by rodents, aging wooden structures compromised by termites and volcanic earthquakes, and dirty classroom carpets that school employees fear are harboring mold and covering asbestos.

Several teachers and parents report that some students and school employees have suffered respiratory illnesses linked by doctors to the mold. They expressed frustration over what they see as a slow and inadequate response by the state to provide professional cleaning, new buildings and other solutions at the school.

“Holualoa is in a crisis,” Logan Okita, vice president of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said during the news conference.

While Hawaii’s public school system has suffered backlogs of repairs and maintenance statewide for decades, Okita said Ho­lualoa is “in a situation that is more acute, and we are seeing those problems and we aren’t getting the answers that the teachers and the community need in order to know that their students and the staff are being kept safe.”

She added that the principal, faculty, custodial staff and parents have done all they can, but “the state has continually failed to maintain the campus while underlying problems at the school persist and get even worse. … HSTA’s primary goal here is to obtain clarity from the state. We want a plan to address the situation, including at the very least … an outline of which repair, maintenance and other projects will be completed and when.”

The campus, in a humid area on the west side of Hawaii island, was founded in 1895 and has nearly 500 students and 50 faculty and staff.

Nanea Kalani, communications director for the state Department of Education, said in a separate interview that DOE officials are aware of Holualoa’s issues and are working with the school on solutions. “We definitely want to make sure students and staff are safe,” she said.

Teachers and parents also are asking for clarity about which state department should be considered responsible for repair and maintenance at Holualoa.

The DOE usually does not handle school repairs and maintenance on the neighbor islands. A 2015 “services level agreement” made the state Department of Accounting and General Services in charge of emergency repairs, large repairs, minor repairs and other miscellaneous services for neighbor island schools.

However, the Department of Education is trying to assist anyway. “Regardless of jurisdiction, the department (of education) is deploying resources to address this issue as quickly as possible to support the school,” Kalani said.

Mold is the most widespread problem at Holualoa.

“Teachers say several staff tested positive for mold in their lungs, and doctors have told them not to return to school, into offices and classrooms affected by mold,” Okita said. “Teachers report students have high absentee rates because of respiratory problems.”

While the school’s custodians do their best to clean the mold away, she said, teachers report that it keeps coming back on everything from closet doors inside classrooms to the roofs of covered campus walkways.

“This has been a long pattern of neglect and failure to inspect, and it’s had an impact on our students’ academics as well as their social and emotional health,” said first grade teacher Courtney D’Agostino. She is preparing to go on leave because of respiratory symptoms that she said her doctor has linked to the mold at school.

In a Jan. 5 letter to parents, Holualoa Principal Glenn Gray said the school is “working with our complex and state level offices to assess the full extent of the problem and develop remediation plans as quickly as possible. … Please be assured that the health and safety of our students and staff is of our highest concern.”

Samples from four classrooms found spores from common species of mold that can affect those who have sensitivity or allergies, but no evidence of the more harmful so-called “black mold,” Kalani said. Students and teachers in two classrooms have been temporarily relocated while the mold issue is addressed, she said.

Gray, in a Jan. 20 update to parents, said a mitigation plan outlined by the complex includes increased use of fans and dehumidifiers; possible added air conditioning; removal of carpets, and painting of classrooms with mold-inhibiting paint; deep cleaning of all rooms that have mold issues; and increased cleaning and upkeep. But timelines were still being worked out, Gray said.

Meanwhile, there don’t appear to be clear state plans yet for dealing with the schools’ other pervasive problems, including pests.

“Educators have found rat droppings on classroom materials, and the rats have chewed right through some books and other publications,” Okita said. The rodents bit through fiber cable wires in January, knocking out campus internet and phone service, she said.

Lisa Vail, Holualoa’s student services coordinator, has worked at the school since 1991. Her tales of working in poor conditions there include stapling butcher paper to the ceiling of her portable to catch termite droppings, falling ill with chronic bronchitis sinusitis from working in another classroom with mold, and watching rats wriggle up and down pipes in another room she worked in. She is frustrated that solutions haven’t come faster.

Vail said she worries most about the students. “They grew up in vog; they’re already compromised. There are so many of them out on respiratory illnesses. Staff have started getting sick,” she said. “It’s unacceptable.”