Custodian: Moldy School Made Me Sick

FORT WORTH, Texas – Dangerous mold is lurking inside South Dallas’ Molina High School, according to a sick faculty member and her attorney.

School custodian Angela Johnson is filing suit against the Dallas Independent School District, seeking compensation for medical bills that the pair claim are the result of exposure to dangerous mold discovered inside the school.

According to Molina, she is now plagued with health problems that began soon after she began working as a custodian at Molina School in August of 1999.

“I wasn’t exactly sure it was mold, but I knew it was a problem the first week I was in the building,” Johnson said.

Johnson said she suffers from blurred vision and respiratory problems, and that she believes others have suffered similar health problems as well.

“Myself and the rest of the custodian crew all started having the same symptoms. Eventually, we all ended up on the same medications,” Johnson said.

According to DISD, it hired two separate hygienists to examine the building, aside from consulting the state’s department of health, and that black mold was not identified as a problem.

“The area where we have found some mold to be growing was in the custodial closet, and that was mainly due to lack of cleaning after the closets were used,” said DISD representative Miguel Ramos.

However, Johnson said that by the time she had left the school for an unrelated medical leave in January, she was taking nine different medications. And according to her attorney, of the other reportedly ill custodians, Johnson is suffering most.

That’s why, according to Johnson, she believes the school is a health hazard that needs to be cleaned up.

“It’s something in the building,” Johnson said. “Even when they say they didn’t find anything, something was still making us sick.”

Johnson’s attorney have sent a demand letter to the school district asking that employees and students be tested for mold exposure.

As for the moldy custodial closet , the district is working to replace affected Sheetrock with plastic laminate.