Rooms With A Phew
Sabal Palm School at Polk Juvenile Correctional Facility has been closed because of a mold problem that staff members say has made them sick. The students, all inmates at the facility, are attending classes outdoors.
GREG FIGHT / Tribune
Published: Apr 19, 2006
POLK CITY - Nearly 200 young offenders are living in a Polk County detention center with mold problems so severe that school personnel were ordered to stay away.
More than half of the 37 staff members, who work for the county school district, became ill from mold at the Polk Juvenile Correctional Facility and have filed workers' compensation claims, said Dennis Higgins, head of the district's alternative education department.
Still, the company that manages the center for the state, G4S Youth Services, points to two studies that state mold throughout the facility isn't severe enough to require students to relocate. Even if the studies indicate otherwise, said Kerry Knott, G4S vice president of operations, the mold likely came from leaky roofs and faulty air conditioning - problems beyond the company's daily responsibilities.
The state would have to pay for repairs, Knott said, and a state Department of Justice spokeswoman said money can be tight.
"As always, we're concerned with a safe and nurturing environment to help the youth in our care," spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo said.
In the meantime, for six weeks, the youths have been getting instruction outdoors through G4S case managers and therapists rather than teachers from the local district. Some teachers are on hand to provide individual tutoring. Temporary classrooms likely won't open for several more weeks.
Higgins accused the Department of Justice of poor oversight and called the situation an environmental crisis.
"Most recently, I think the department has made a sincere and genuine effort to get a correction made in a timely manner," he said. "But prior to most recently, I know that I have been reporting it for months, to various levels of dissatisfaction."
Buildings Off Limits
The office is one of five buildings at the Polk City center that teachers are allowed to enter, Higgins said. They cannot enter the school, cafeteria and two residential buildings.
Mold inside buildings can cause headaches, runny noses, sneezing, rashes and nausea, said Wesley Nall, an environmental supervisor for the Polk County Health Department. Hypersensitive people can face greater health problems such as asthma attacks, Nall said.
Eight of the 192 facility employees for G4S have filed workers' compensation claims in recent weeks, with two citing mold and others citing poor air quality. None has missed work, Knott said.
Several students told the Tribune on Tuesday that they were healthy and had not heard of any classmates sick from mold exposure. No students have reported being sick from mold, according to G4S.
All of the center's students have been charged with crimes, and most stay there from nine months to a year. They are young men from throughout the state, mostly 14 to 18.
In early March, Polk's school district told teachers not to re-enter the school, but 28 new students have been admitted.
Planned Improvements
The Justice Department hopes to receive $5 million from the Legislature this year for repairs to the Polk center, Higgins said.
Higgins said most of Polk's seven juvenile justice centers have had mold issues and that officials from three other Florida school districts have told him similar stories about their juvenile centers.
Late last school year, mold was detected in a classroom of Riverside Academy, a Hillsborough County facility. The mold has been removed, Hillsborough schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said.
Studies through the Justice Department and Polk County School Board state that although there is mold, the situation is not severe enough to warrant closing the facility, Knott said.
"There is mold, but it's hard to go places in Florida and not find mold," G4S spokesman Mike Powers said.
Rep. Gustavo Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, expects the Legislature to fund Polk's repairs.
He said that for their health, the Polk students should be moved to other facilities until repairs are complete. As for reports that mold has not sickened students, he said the department "said there were a lot of kids that weren't getting hurt in boot camps, either."
Boot camps, which are a small percentage of the state's juvenile justice facilities, have had the attention of lawmakers and the media since January, when Martin Lee Anderson died at a boot camp in the Panhandle. A video shows guards hitting and kicking Anderson before his death.
Higgins said Polk's boot camp has not had mold issues and is the county's most well-maintained juvenile facility.
"In fact, I think one of our best schools in all of Polk County is our boot camp," he said.
The Learning Environment
Although the facility is only about eight years old, Higgins said, it has had water intrusion for at least five years. Its school was shut down for two months last year for repairs.
School office staff member Robin Seibel said mold has given her a persistent cough, sore throat and itchy eyes.
Seibel said that whether they reported it or not, many students are sick from mold.
"They all have runny noses and sniffles," Costa said.
Polk's health department is midway through an independent analysis of the center's mold issue. Nall helped interview teachers, G4S staff and 21 randomly selected juveniles.
Nall said it is too early to say what the analysis will show but that it will be difficult to determine whether the facility's mold is what made teachers sick.
When asked whether the youths complained of being sickened by mold, Nall replied, "What's the definition of sick? If their nose is running every day, they might say, 'I'm not really sick.'"