Mould returns to St Stephen’s Nursery, BUT says

Mould has raised its head at another school, the Barbados Union of Teachers claimed on Monday. The union said it was investigating reports that attempts to rid the St Stephen’s Nursery School of the airborne toxins have failed.

The chair of the union’s health and safety committee, first vice president Julian Pierre, said that after the issue was raised with the Ministry of Education there was an attempt to rectify the situation but staff were still concerned about the effectiveness of the cleaning.

“There was a report from the steward and staff there of possible mould.” said Pierre.

“Mr Vaughan, who deals with the treatment of mould . . . Mr Weeks, the environmentalist was not called in. So we have a little issue there because there was suspected mould and treatment of it, but there was no air quality test or mould testing to know how much is in the environment or if after treatment, a post-test to know if it is definitely gone and treated well. So we would liaise with the Chief Education Officer again to find out about that situation,” he said, adding that treatment was done over the weekend.”

Pierre explained that tests are usually conducted before and after cleaning to determine the treatment’s effectiveness.

He said the mould problem had developed in the school hall, which was built of limestone. (SZB)