Reading descriptions and looking at pictures of the mold problem
in a portable classroom at Brownell Academy left us wanting a
shower. It also left us wondering how any responsible manager could
ignore this problem, and why the concerned teacher in this case
didn’t escalate his requests for help sooner.
Reading descriptions and looking at pictures of the mold problem in a portable classroom at Brownell Academy left us wanting a shower. It also left us wondering how any responsible manager could ignore this problem, and why the concerned teacher in this case didn’t escalate his requests for help sooner.
The problem began more than a year ago, when physical education teacher Pat Vickroy began noticing health problems, including asthma and aching joints. He began keeping a log of his symptoms and the time he spent in room J11, the portable classroom that housed his office at Brownell Academy.
Vickroy notified Jeff Gopp, Gilroy Unified School District’s maintenance and operations manager in August, about the visible mold in the room, but says he never received a response. If true, that’s absolutely inexcusable.
In December, Vickroy contacted Gilroy Teachers Association president Michelle Nelson, and the problem eventually reached Superintendent Edwin Diaz’s desk. It’s shocking that a problem involving the health and safety of faculty and students was ignored for so long. It’s also perplexing that Vickroy never notified the school principal about a safety problem on her campus, that he waited four months before escalating the issue and that he chose to do so by contacting his union president instead of Steve Brinkman, GUSD’s assistant superintendent for facilities.
But the lack of response to a health and safety issue isn’t the only shocker in this debacle. It turns out the district was housing Vickroy in portable classrooms it was only supposed to be using for storage. How could something like that happen?
Sadly, mismanagement appears rampant. According to Brinkman, Gopp ordered the room to be cleaned ahead of an independent test for mold in J11. Despite the cleaning, the independent lab found that mold levels inside J11 were higher than outdoor levels, which violates accepted standards.
So, thanks to thumb-twiddling, complacency, poor communication and an apparent middle management cover-up attempt, taxpayers are left holding the bag for multiple levels of liability. First, in a district with sky-high worker’s comp claims and insurance rates, we now have another claim: Vickroy has filed for worker’s compensation. Who knows how high that bill will go, or if Vickroy will seek additional damages in court?
In a district that’s supposed to be seeking to reduce worker’s compensation claims at all levels, the negligent handling of this incident is stunning. How about the students who have been exposed to mold on the Brownell campus – what kind of liability exposure does the district have there?
This incident is a textbook example of how not to handle safety issues. We urge Diaz and the school board to move swiftly to take disciplinary action – including termination in the most egregious cases – against employees who mishandled this situation so blatantly.
That’s the only way to send an unmistakable message that safety of students and employees is a serious issue for GUSD and that dire consequences will result for anyone who ignores proper procedure and violates the inherent trust in the employee-employer relationship.
