A band of Ministers reaffirmed the Government’s position yesterday that CedarBridge Academy is safe — despite a protest from students worried about their health.

About 150 CedarBridge pupils demonstrated their frustration over mould health concerns enveloping their school building.

They protested for 30 to 40 minutes refusing to go inside for the start of school yesterday morning.

S2 student Renee Tucker, 15, said: “Why should we stay in school and put ourselves at risk after they told us they cleaned the school. The school’s still got mould in it.”

Eventually students were convinced to move into a cafeteria courtyard where a collection of Government officials, including Acting Premier Paula Cox, held a dialogue with the protesters for more than two hours.

In the end the Acting Premier was able to quiet their concerns, at least temporarily, but the students did not make it easy.

Ms Cox said: “They made it very clear in very frank language. They weren’t going to stand on ceremony, they didn’t care who you were, and that’s okay too because it was a public health issue, they wanted to know that you heard them, you weren’t treating them as step children, that they mattered and that you were going to take some action.”

Ms Cox described her time with the students as being “in the hot seat”.

After the discussion she was part of a team of officials who followed students to areas of the school they were concerned about.

By day’s end it was announced a full-time nurse will be stationed at the school starting on Monday morning — replacing the nurse who was there on a part-time basis.

That move is perhaps partly in response to a teacher and student taken to hospital yesterday by ambulance after falling ill inside the school building.

The teacher was stricken at around the same time as the morning protest. Emergency medical personnel treated her just outside the school entranceway as other teachers held up a sheet to protect her privacy.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann said it’s not clear if her immediate medical needs were the result of mould.

He said: “I have no reason to believe or confirm that her illness today was related to mould in the school. It could be related to a variety of factors and you must, very carefully, determine which factors are present and which things might have impacted on her health.”

Earlier this month dance teacher Zalika Millett took sick at the school and collapsed. She was similarly taken away in an ambulance and later tested positive for aspergillus mould — the same fungi found in the school last year.

Yesterday Acting Education Minister Dennis Lister pointed out in a multi-Ministry news conference that mid-March is cold and flu season.

He also said: “At this moment, the sick out numbers among teachers and students at CedarBridge are far less than they have been in years past.”

No official at the news conference could immediately provide the actual figures.

Mr. Lister and his Cabinet colleague Sen. Phil Perinchief both proclaimed that the school was safe, apparently their statements were backed up by scientific testing.

Mr. Perinchief said: “The testing has been random but also has taken place in those areas were health concerns have been expressed. We are satisfied through that testing that the building is safe for teachers and students to carry out the business of Education.”

He announced test results from independent consultants would be shared with the CedarBridge community next week.

International health experts said the school was sufficiently clear of mould when it reopened in January.

Many of the Friday morning protestors signed a petition demanding that all students and teachers have access to proper medical testing at the Government’s expense to ensure the building wasn’t making them sick.

Minister Lister said the students’ request was being considered.

Ms Cox expressed a degree of empathy with the students she met, suggesting their concern is amplified by the confusing events happening around them.

She said: “They knew that someone independent had come in and given a clean bill of health. Yet they still saw issues which they thought must be attributed to mould. That seemed totally out of whack.

“But I think you really will see things play out, as people go and get tested that they’ll hopefully have their concerns addressed by the data as opposed to just going by what could be a generic issue.”

Officials will soon be supplying students and teachers with an email address so that they can better catalogue health concerns. Also health officials urge anyone who uses the school building to see the new full-time school nurse or their own physician if they feel ill.

Students: Why should we risk our health?