By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

It is not a new question but one that remains on the minds of several current and former teachers and administrators: is Middle School of the Kennebunks making people sick?
“There’s a concern among staff that there are air quality issues causing some of them [staff] to experience illness,” said Superintendent Andrew Dolloff. “It’s been going on for eight years or more, nearly since the building was completed.”
But complaints by staff have persisted and Dolloff has called in National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, to take a deeper look at the building and teachers’ health concerns.
“They’re [NIOSH] coming in February or March, at end of this process I want a final answer,” said Dolloff. “It had to get to this point where more and more staff members believe there’s a link in air quality and how they’re feeling. We need experts to look at both sides – medical and scientific.”
Air quality testers from the institute will be in the school next week, according to middle school teacher and teacher union representative Mary McCarthy.
The building and staff will be interviewed as part of the full investigation by the institute.
RSU 21 administration has been working with Turner Building Science and Design in Harrison to test for mold, radon, mites and allergens in the building since air quality was first questioned.
This is Dolloff’s first year as superintendent; he inherited the building concerns from the previous administration.
“We spent $400,000 this summer in the building,” Dolloff said. “We took out 66 windows that had been improperly put in, they tore out sheetrock. It’s amazing how much work and testing has been done.”

Robin Vaughan believes there is a link between the building and how she felt when she was teaching at the middle school.
“The symptoms I developed over three years were itchy watery eyes, severe headaches, upper respiratory issues that became chronic,” Vaughan said.
She said she also developed dizziness, headaches and feelings of lethargy in the three years she worked at the middle school.
“I have watched the teachers over at the middle school, I watched them gradually deteriorate. Some have gone from never being sick to having some pretty major medical issues. I always wondered if the building was the issue,” Vaughan said.
Vaughan now works at Kennebunk High School and reports she is symptom free.
“At one point the second year I was there in the spring, I was walking down the hallway to the other end of the building. I was so dizzy I kept bumping into the lockers, and by the time I got back to my classroom my supervisor found me on the floor hanging onto the filing cabinet,” Vaughn said.
She was taken out of the school in an ambulance.
Vaughan said she had similar symptoms as another teacher at the middle school, Gwyneth Nicholson, who left her position in Kennebunk a year and a half ago to teach in Saco and Dayton’s RSU 23.
“The only reason I left the job was because of the building,” Nicholson said. “I was very sick, by midday I had to sit down to teach. I had pain in my nose, fatigue, bad headaches.”
Nicholson, along with three co-workers, was sent to Dr. Paris Mansmann, an allergist in Yarmouth who works with the district.
“We were diagnosed with the same basic problem, which was exposure to mold,” Nicholson said.
Efforts to contact Mansmann were unsuccessful.
Nicholson also reports being symptom free since leaving the school.
“I do believe 100 percent whatever is in that building is making people sick,” she said.
McCarthy said she has also felt sick and has seen Mansmann.
“There are people who are sick, no doubt about it,” McCarthy said.

RSU 21 Financial Director Jim Barnes said it “hasn’t been determined” if any of the sick teachers will receive workers’ compensation.
While the teachers have been feeling sick, students appear to not be reacting to the building in the same way.
“Part of it is the kids are only in our building for three years and they move around a lot,” McCarthy said.
Several Kennebunk Parent Teacher Organization members said their children have not been sick.
Dolloff has talked with Mansmann about the staff problems.
“His statement to me has been he cannot confirm a link between air quality and staff,” Dolloff said.
Turner Building teams have tested the air quality. Any time they find a high level of moisture in the building, construction teams replace leaky windows and patch up the improperly installed roof and tear up carpeting in the school.
Improperly installed flashing on the exterior of the building that was diverting water into rather than away from the building was replaced this summer for $35,000. Ventilation units were also replaced for $62,000 to ensure no moisture or construction dust blows through the system.
Mold remediation was needed in two classrooms for $6,800 and the extension of sewer and boiler chimneys on the roof is needed at a cost of $8,000.
Other projects include further ventilation system improvements for $5,445 and carpet removal and tile replacement in four classrooms for $16,000.
Dolloff said all projects are complete and no more have been planned.
The $11.24 million school was designed by SMRT Architecture Engineering in Portland and built by Payton Construction Co. of Boston.
Payton filed for bankruptcy in 2007 after the company suffered $15 million in losses.
At the beginning of the school year, former board member Estelle Wellman asked if the school had any recourse through the construction company’s insurance, but Barnes said that would require spending funds on mediation with no guarantee of success.
“From my understanding the district has had testing redone and the air quality is at an acceptable level,” Dolloff said.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.