Air quality concerns
Parent says requests for mould testing at TOSH ignored
“I am just flabbergasted they’ve allowed the children to be in this environment for over a year.” Toby MacDonald
Though pleased air quality test results for the Three Oaks Senior High School construction project have been released, Toby MacDonald feels there’s still something missing. MacDonald, who, on behalf of school parents, filed a freedom of information request to get the test results made public, said government officials are still refusing parents’ requests for mould testing and for tests to determine what’s actually in the dust particulates. Air quality tests show the particulate levels in areas of Three Oaks occupied by students and staff have consistently been below threshold limit values, says Chris Keefe, school safety consultant for the province’s 62 schools. “We’re way, way, way below those levels,” he said. “If we were even close to those limits you’re going to see dust everywhere, and we don’t have that.” MacDonald, however, is troubled by perimeter readings that are detecting particulates outside of the sealed-off, negative-pressure area. “I am just flabbergasted they’ve allowed the children to be in this environment for over a year.” She described some of the levels she’s seen in the reports as ridiculous. She acknowledges government is saying the air quality test results were made public because of a request from an ad hoc committee that she’s part of, but she doubts they would have been released without the freedom of information request. The air quality test results also point to an incident in March 2017 when asbestos levels detected on surface dust were nearly 50 times acceptable limits.
Keefe said those results followed a construction oversight. Believing ceiling tiles in the former English Language School Board offices did not contain asbestos, they were carried out through a common corridor in an area of the building where school staff would be present. “As soon as we determined they were removing asbestos tiles without protocol, we immediately stopped the work. Things got put under a negative pressure, we did a thorough cleaning of the area and all air tests at that point of time demonstrated OK,” he reported. MacDonald noted Transportation Infrastructure and Energy Minister Paula Biggar remarked in the legislature that a new school would have cost $40 million. She counters that the project has already cost $23 million and wonders if it could hit $30 million before it’s done. “Is it worth having sick kids?” Keefe expressed hope that all of the hazardous material abatements and all of the demolition in the Three Oaks project will be completed by the end of the summer. “If we can get rid of that this summer, it’s going to be much, much better September-on. “That’s the goal.” MacDonald, however, wishes the whole project could be completed by the end of summer, suggesting double shifts would go a long way toward making that happen. Completion date is now leaning to next winter, or even April. She admits she’s not expecting double shifts to happen. “We haven’t been listened to since it started,” she said.