Westhill High School students stage walkout over growing mold concerns

<p>Hundreds of Westhill High School students walked out of class Monday amid growing health concerns over mold inside of classrooms.</p>

News 12 Staff

Dec 10, 2018, 6:07 PM

Updated 1,976 days ago

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Hundreds of Westhill High School students walked out of class Monday amid growing health concerns over mold inside of classrooms.
The students walked out of class around 8:25 a.m. and gathered on the football field on the campus where they held giant signs— some of which read "Purple and Gold, Not Purple and Mold." referencing the school's colors.
Students tell News 12 they feel sick every time they walk inside of the building but they can’t afford to miss class time.
In recent weeks, Stamford School District officials revealed 40 teachers at the school filed workers compensation claims sighting mold-related sicknesses.
Students say they aren't receiving the proper education they deserve with so many of their teachers out sick.
They say they want air quality testing conducted throughout the entire building and want more communication from school officials about how the mold is being addressed.
Stamford's Mold Task Force says a remediation company has cleaned a majority of classrooms affected by mold.
In a statement from the district released Monday, officials wrote, "We recognize and respect students' desire to express concerns regarding the environment of their school. Not every student may be aware of the work of the Mold Task Force. Over the past few months, with regard to WHS specifically, our first priority was to address any visible and surface mold issues as soon as possible. While there was some evidence of visible mold growth in limited areas, there has not been significant visible active mold growth in the building."
The district says additional air quality tests were not recommended by any environmental specialists or OSHA.
School officials say students who walked out of class today were marked absent from the classes they missed.


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