Elizabeth Forward teachers raise air quality concerns following auditorium fire
ELIZABETH, Pa. (KDKA) - It's been just over a week since teachers and students at Elizabeth Forward High School have returned to the classroom after a fire in the auditorium in February forced them to learn remotely.
Since then, some teachers have raised concerns over the air quality inside the building.
"We've had teachers here who are having sore throats, sinus infections, people with breathing problems," Justin Plansinis said, a teacher and the vice president of the Elizabeth Forward Education Association. "There's just an aroma of cleansers, and still some lingering smoke smells throughout the building."
Restoration efforts have been underway in the high school since the fire. School board members told KDKA Wednesday they've also hired two industrial hygiene companies to check and monitor the air to ensure everyone's safety.
"All of those tests are public, they're all there on the (district's) website. The results of those tests, even from the beginning of this, which is six weeks, eight weeks ago, were substantially less than what they have been told to us they need to be in a safe environment," Thomas Sharkey said, Elizabeth Forward School Board President.
But Plansinis said with little to no ventilation inside the building, the lingering smoke and cleaning solution inside could still be what's causing some physical side effects.
"I don't even disagree that whatever they're testing for might be within the safe levels, but I just know with people telling me they're still not feeling well, whatever it is they're testing for must not be what's causing it. They must not be testing for it or the problem still exists," Plansinis said. "This building is 70 years old. There's no air conditioning system in here, it's just windows. Some rooms don't have windows. It might be cleaning solutions that haven't ventilated properly yet. That's something you can only do with time."
Plansinis said EFEA would like to see the high school go back to remote learning until the building is ventilated and found safe.
Sharkey told KDKA they will continue to monitor the air, evaluate and react to any issues that may be presented, and continue to follow the science.
"I have not seen any factual basis for the things that have been said. So, I think it is unfortunately a waste of time and energy when there's no factual evidence to base that on. Our decisions are made by science and facts. The science and the facts that we have are safe," Sharkey said.
