Fathers sleepless curiosity leads to mold discovery and clean-up

A dry hack in the middle of the night coming from his son Luke is what made Shawn Wilmoth curious.

That cough turned into a sleepless night for Dad as he surfed the web trying to find a cause.

"I knew there had to be a common problem that was causing all these kids to have a cough or upper respiratory problems, but not be contagious to brothers or sister, which is what we experienced," he said.

Several students and the teacher in the classroom have complained of respiratory problems. Wilmoth estimates anywhere between six to twelve students have had problems.

The Jefferson City dad thought mold may be to blame so he called the school district and asked to have the classroom tested.

Inside, a Michigan lab says a sample showed a single spore of stachybotrys mold.

A second sample on the other side of the portable classroom found 86 spores of the fungus some call potentially fatal.

"I'm actually very pleased with the results because if we had not found additional mold spores and the source then we'd have a mystery," Wilmoth said.

"You've got a nasty mess, did they test every room in the school?" Linda May, an OSHA accredited instructor and nurse said.

May has worked with school districts, public buildings, and other entities that have had similar mold outbreaks with fatal consequences.

Tennesse's division of OSHA says there is no standard for the amount of mold that's permissable in the state. But some, including the United States Government Accountability Office and Linda May, say that needs to change.

While Tennessee's Department of Health says the school district is doing exactly what they should, May warns parents need to be more aware and keep a close eye on their children.

"If your child is complaining, 'I don't feel good mom,' listen to him. He is telling you the truth, he is sick," she said.

May urges parents to throw away clothes children were wearing.

"He will continue to remain sick because his backpack and maybe his blankie was exposed," she said.

Families like the Wilmoths say they'll keep an eye out, but at this point they're not overly concerned now that they've found the cause.

"The administration is doing the right thing to remove the problem from the classroom, and we certainly thank God for the administration acting quickly and checking the other trailers," Wilmoth said.

Still, he says he'd like the district to find a permanent fix to replace the doublewide trailers turned classrooms that are currently housing mold.

"I think the long term solution is something the county has struggled with trying to do anyway, which is build new schools," he said.

The school district expects a professional mold removal team on site Thursday morning. From there, they'll test the rooms again and hopefully open back up to students in a few days.

(source article)