• Are you (Jodi Trubia) the person responsible for ensuring the construction companying maintain appropriate barriers (between the construction project and the occupied school)?
• Ms. Trubia answered that she was.
• Are the HVAC (Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning) systems balanced every five years? If there is no evidence that they have been, will they be as a preventive measure?
• Since the removal of asbestos tiles can be tiles can be dangerous, how are the removed or loose tiles being handled?
• Ms. Trubia answered that the loosened tiles are now sealed, and that that is to be done in hours when the building is not in use.
• Where are the asbestos tiles?
• Is the plan to eventually remove all the asbestos tiles?
• Ms. Trubia answered that yes, the plan is that the entire building will eventually be gutted.
• Are the rooms cleaned after the asbestos tile abatement?
• Ms. Trubia said, to the best of her knowledge, everything is cleaned following abatement.
• What are we (parents, teachers, school employees etc.) asking be done? Are we asking that the Jacobs be closed?
• Who makes the decision that things (building conditions) are under control?
• Has OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration www.osha.gov) been here, and if not, can they?
• Massachusetts Teacher Association and Environmental attorney Sarah Gibson said public employees are not covered by OSHA, and therefore OSHA has no jurisdiction, but town and state public health agents do have jurisdiction.
• Whom should we contact if a child has been put on an inhaler and nose spray (to let administration know there are new respiratory problems)?
• Who's going to guarantee us that kids are in a safe, healthy environment?
• The superintendent (Dr. Paula Delaney) was invited. Why isn't she, or Dave Twombly (director of operations), here?
• Dr. Delaney had told school committee members and HTA members she had a prior, and that she had advised her staff that attending would not be advisable without her there.
• Are we starting to think about what we need to do if the school needs to close, instead of trying to put together a solution at the last minute?
• Is the construction company idling its vehicles away from the occupied classrooms, beyond a pre-determined distance?
• John D. Reilly, Jr., chair of the Board of Selectmen and the School Building Committee, said there is a provision in the contract that requires the construction company to keep idling vehicles a certain distance from occupied classrooms, and that the company has been very responsive to requests to comply.
• Why has communication been so poor? Specifically, why did a parent receive a call at 2:30 p.m. notifying her that her child would be dropped off at the bus stop at 1:30 p.m.?
• ConnectEd, the automated phone system, didn't work, but the questions of what is the best plan of action in such an emergency still is not resolved.
• Health and welfare should be addressed. One parent said her daughter had been sick since the second week of school, and when she discussed this with administration, she was patronized. She said it shouldn't be use against them.
• Are people lying about records? What recourse do parents have to confront administration officials if they believe they are lying?
• One parent said she called the school several weeks ago when mold was first publicly identified in the modulars. No one ever returned her call. What is protecting the school building proper from the modulars with the mold? She was told a double-set of doors protect the school.
• The modulars are now sealed off, but some said when the mold was identified, the double doors would not have protected the building.
• One statistic from a doctor says 2 in 15 children will develop childhood asthma. At what point will the administration deem the number of children with asthma is too high statistically and do something?
• One parent said his daughter reported a "horrible" smell and eye pain. The parent called Mr. Twombly, who said he went down to the modulars and found no odor. With all the teachers who are ill and a construction company letter that reported mold and a moldy smell on August 17, how could he say there was no odor? That same girl on Sunday was unable to breathe. We need to test the whole building and survey the staff and students to determine the effect the mold is having and to what extent.
• Is it possible to get answers before January? As soon as possible?
• What do our attendance records look like compared to last year?
• Given the serious concerns about breathing issues, even is there is air quality testing, wouldn't it be a good idea to get air purifiers.
• This question has been raised, and apparently there is a risk of worse air quality if the filters in the purifiers are not regularly changed or cleaned.
• It is inappropriate to wait until January 3.
• Do we have teacher attendance numbers for this year compared to last year at the Jacobs, and has anyone looked at how long people are absent?
• What are we looking to have happen, and how can we be part of the solution?
• Can we poll and see higher incidence in some classrooms over others?
• Mr. Riley said that the construction and design features that lead to long-term water and drainage problems, which in turn lead to mold, are being addressed and will be totally different in the new building.
• When are children scheduled to be in the new part of the building and is the project on schedule?
• Mr. Reilly said all parts of the project are on time except for some iron work which is one week behind. The transfer to the new building is scheduled for August 2007.