Fiber glass scrap from aircon make Kagman students sick

The Kagman community has raised fears its children are facing grave health risks due to fiber glass particles they may have been inhaling inside their fully-airconditioned classrooms for the past six months at Saipan’s newest public campus.

Though no medical evidence has been so far determined to directly link the spate of illnesses Kagman Elementary School students and faculty have reportedly suffered due to the suspected health hazard, community leaders led by Rep. Tom Pangelinan convened yesterday to formulate an action plan to address the pressing issue.

The concern stems from complaints made by teachers and parents that some KAG classrooms have constantly been swarmed with dust-like particles they have formerly mistaken as dirt.

But experts confirmed the crumbs that have been found lying on classroom floors are fiber glass particles emitted by the airconditioning units inside the closed chambers.

In a meeting between officials from the Public School System, Department of Public Works, legislators, faculty, and private firms, airconditioning experts assessed the that alleged health hazards may be caused by poorly-maintained airconditioning filters.

Gabriel Perez, a representative from Carrier, told leaders yesterday that if only filters were regularly maintained or replaced, impurities inside classrooms would eventually cease to be a problem.

“Right now, as we’re sitting here, we’re breathing dusty air, although we can’t see it. They’re very small particles circulating around the room,” Mr. Perez warned yesterday.

He added that if students and teachers stay cooped up in such dirt-clogged environment, chances of them developing illnesses are likely.

KAG Fifth grade teacher Frank Tomokane said he had suspected something amiss with the persistent pile up of sand-like materials inside his classroom as early as the first two weeks when the campus first opened.

He also suspected the cause of his two-day ailment last year as well as health problems experienced by his students were caused by the fiber glass particles they apparently breathe everyday for several hours.

A representative from Torres Refrigeration Inc. also confirmed that the campus has indeed improperly-installed insulation.

“Whoever did this, it was not done properly,” said Mr. Joseph Torres.

The PSS CIP office through direct instruction from Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos has vowed to replace the filters as soon as possible.

Board of Education Chair Anthony Pellegrino has proposed a two-fold process to mitigate the situation.

He suggested that the administration begin by changing the filters and from there conduct a comprehensive inspection to pinpoint other deficiencies in the school’s airconditioning system and other physical aspects.

PSS will start ordering today for a new set of filters. The system inspection will follow within two weeks.