Oak Ridge Drama Continues

I’m afraid I haven’t totally kept up with the mold saga at Oak Ridge Elementary; probably because it just makes me angry. I reported on it months ago and voiced my suspicions that Guilford County Schools may have only been pretending to research the problem for unselfish reasons while actually researching it to prepare legal defenses.

But now parents are getting frustrated with the delays and are petitioning to get their kids back into school. At least 90 parents have signed a petition calling for Guilford County Schools to let the students back into the school by January 4. The school system has refused to set a timeline until it receives reports from the National Health Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The petition reads: “neither NIOSH nor any litigation issues should be allowed to cause delays in getting our students back in their school.”

The petition signals a shift in public perception. First, parents wanted their kids out of the school that was making them sick. Now they are sick of having to wait for the problem to be fixed while their kids are spread out among makeshift schools and receiving inferior education.

Parents are annoyed that the school seems to endlessly want to research and report on the problem. The school seems hesitant to fix any problem unless an independent report tells them that it needs to be fixed. This is most likely a legal defense. Fixing a problem is an admission of liability so they do not want to admit liability by fixing a problem unless a report clearly states that there is a problem.

Unfortunately, the bureaucratic process for this plan of action is taking way too long. One parent who signed the petition said bureaucracy and a fear of lawsuits had overcome common sense during the long Oak Ridge saga.

I agree. It looks as though Oak Ridge is playing it safe and doing everything by the books to make sure their behinds are covered here. Someone could have just came in there, fogged the place with a safe, effective enzyme solution, and this problem would have been solved in a weekend at a fraction of the cost.

So who do I blame here? The school system? The legal system? I’m tired of pointing fingers, but it is interesting how mold thrives on bureaucracy – it’s tastier than any damp, organic surface.

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