Students may have to take classes at College
And if the results prove positive the island’s largest public school will have to shut down for the second time in six months — causing massive disruption to students’ education.
Yesterday, Bermuda Union of Teachers president Michael Charles said the union had been holding talks with Government about a contingency plan should the school have to shut down again.
“At this point we’re having tests done at the school that are approved by the Environmental Protection Agency of the US which are supposed to pick up any pollutant,” he said.
“Test results should be here by the end of the week or beginning of next week. Until then it’s a case of waiting and seeing.
“We held a meeting with the Ministry yesterday trying to come up with some plan in the event that the results are positive. At the present time we are looking at the Bermuda College as an alternative. Their academic year finishes soon and that would make the facility available. It’s something that we’re hoping we won’t have to do.
“This thing has taken on a life of its own and the unfortunate thing is we don’t know what we’re dealing with. We thought the mould situation was taken care of but people are still suffering symptoms.
“If the mould is now at an acceptable level then what else is out there? It’s making people feel very uncomfortable and right now all we can do is wait and see.
“It’s something that is causing real problems — it’s something that is affecting peoples’ health and of course we can’t mess with something like that. We need to make sure that will compromise the health of staff and students.
<\h>The school was shut down last November after potentially fatal mould spores were discovered at the facility. It reopened in January following a $4 million clean-up operation. Some teachers and students have continued to complain about the environment and its possible effect on their health.
Education Minister Randy Horton is expected to make an announcement on the latest developments later today.
