KENNEBUNK — Tom Battles feels like a
prisoner in his own home, returning there after school each day to rely
on oxygen and a regimen of medications to help him breathe, effects he
says stem from poor air quality at the Middle School of the Kennebunks.
Battles
taught at the school for eight years, until one month ago when he said
three different doctors ordered him out of the building and he was
transferred to Kennebunk High School.
"When I think about it I'm pretty much a
prisoner in my own home. I can't go out. I am hypersensitive to odors. I
am sick, very sick," said Battles, who was diagnosed with chronic
obstructive lung disease and has become resistant to steroid medication
and rescue inhalers. "When I came to MSK I was healthy, I didn't take a
pill, and I had a strong desire just to teach. I think I stayed a little
too long at MSK."
On Tuesday, Battles was one
of 16 staff members who shared their health battles with the RSU 21
Board of Directors. One by one, the teachers stood before the board
recounting varying symptoms ranging from runny noses to cardiac
problems, including trouble breathing, fatigue, repeated sinus
infections, itching and burning eyes, constant headaches, and rashes.
Many have been to doctors, undergone countless tests, were treated with
medications, and told their symptoms stem from issues within the school
facility, namely mold.
Symptoms range from colds to cardiac issues "At
this point, more than half of the staff at MSK is adversely affected
and continues to be affected," said Mark Cloutier, an attorney with
Cloutier, Conley & Duffett in Portland. "The bottom line is as they
were working they were continuously exposing themselves to further
adverse environmental elements and their condition continued to evolve.
This is not a small problem and it's not a small problem for the people
that you have before you. In serving the community they have disserved
their own health."
Lindsey Hansen, a
29-year-old marathon runner and summer hiking guide, recalled how she
called 911 and took an ambulance to the hospital after experiencing
severe heart palpitations and fainting, just two weeks into her time at
the school. Special education teacher Sandy Airoldi was able to speak
only in a whisper Monday, which she said is her voice every other month.
Speech-language pathologist Marsha Darby, who was diagnosed with a rare
form of leukemia in 2008, said her doctor told her the treatment she
underwent protected her from the effects of the building, but now that
she's in remission it's concerning how much more susceptible she may be.
The
concern reaches beyond their own health, to those of their students,
staff said Monday. Sixth grade teacher Laurie Jacques, a parent of a
former MSK student, said her child experienced daily nosebleeds while at
the school, to the point that a physician suggested cauterizing her
nose in eighth grade. Jacques said they waited and when her child moved
on to the high school, the nosebleeds subsided to "hardly any at all."
"I'm
a healthy person and it's affecting me this way," Hansen said. "I'm
really worried about my students because I have 12-and 13-year-olds in
my classroom. I have students come in talking about headaches and
nausea."
An additional seven teachers who
attended the regularly scheduled board meeting were not given the chance
to speak as the board allotted one hour and 15 minutes for public
comment — a decision Chairman Norm Archer made after staff began
describing similar symptoms.
"People are sick.
That's not a doubt. You're all experiencing common issues and this is
obviously a serious issue. We've taken it seriously from the get-go and
we continue to take it serious," Archer said. "I'm not sure how much
more we're going to understand tonight, but hearing folks get up and say
the same information."
Board member Matthew Fadiman objected to prohibiting any teachers from speaking, and made a motion to let them all speak.
"I
need to hear from everyone, we need to hear from everyone, the
community needs to hear from everyone. If it takes until midnight, it
takes until midnight," Fadiman said.
Fadiman's motion did not receive a second from his fellow board members.
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