 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
School's foul state, rats to get attention
By ALICIA CALDWELL, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- The rats will be killed, within days. The electrical wiring will be upgraded. And the janitorial staff will be beefed up.
A dozen parents and students had told the board about dirty conditions at the 36-year-old school, poor air quality, rat droppings on desks and lunch tables, and plumbing that backs up. "These are deplorable educational conditions," said Frank Wootton, president of the Riviera Middle Parent Teacher Student Association. "For four or five months, I tried to work with the system. Then, I had to go public." John Stewart, Pinellas' deputy superintendent, said a staffer had been assigned to each of the problem areas to make sure the situation would be resolved expeditiously. In addition, a $175,000 upgrade to the electrical system, which had been in the study phase, was given the go-ahead Wednesday, Stewart said. The timetable for addressing each problem varies. Exterminators will be brought in within days, said Walter Miller, associate superintendent for institutional services. The air quality study already has begun, and its completion depends upon the scope of the problems discovered. Duct work is ongoing. The wiring project has to go out for bids, which will take at least 30 days. Drains in the plumbing system may need to be relocated, an examination that will begin in the next couple of days. Additional cleaning crew members will be added within days. A deadline for completion of all projects was not established, Miller said. The school had been working on the rodent problem, said Riviera principal Al Bennett, but it can be particularly difficult. Poisoning them frequently compounds the problem because they crawl into the walls, die and decay. So, the school's building staff had been trying to trap them, Bennett said. "Recently, we've had them come out during the day, which is concerning," he said. On Feb. 14, children ran shrieking out of two classrooms when a rat appeared. Bennett said rodent sightings -- and rodent droppings -- have become more scarce, but that additional help in solving the problem would be welcomed. Also an issue is the school's heating and air conditioning system, which Wootton said frequently breaks down. A teacher had reported respiratory problems, and several asthmatic students had complained about air quality. A January memo that Wootton obtained outlined the teacher's concerns and noted that an air conditioning unit had a dirty and moldy coil. The recommendation was to clean it. A communication breakdown, Stewart said, appeared to be at the heart of the situation. The scope of the problems hadn't been communicated to top administrators, he said. But a larger question facing the school system centers on the cost-effectiveness of repairing the old school, which serves 1,240 students. At some point, it will be economically more beneficial to build a new school. That decision, however, is integrally tied to the system's "controlled choice" program, which is intended to give parents more power to choose where their children go to school. "Choice" was created as part of a legal settlement to end a 1964 lawsuit between the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the School District. Administrators must look at the entire county, Stewart said, in divining where new schools ought to go. That process could take five to six years. In the meantime, he said, remedial work will begin. "It's still a safe school, and the air quality and all the issues that were presented will be monitored daily," Stewart said. Wootton, a retired home remodeling contractor, said he was satisfied with the action plan administrators devised to address the school's troubles. "We're getting somewhere now," Wootton said. "It's a shame it took this many months."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
