Mouse droppings and silverfish lead to health concerns

It may have been a casual survey, but for a group of St. Matthew Catholic High School athletes collecting in the parking lot on their way home from practice last week, the east-end school’s infamous portables didn’t seem a big hit.

“Kids end up not wanting to go to class because it’s way too hot in them,” suggested Grade 12 student Taylor York on Thursday, April 30, glancing at the yellow, trailer-like structures next to the St. Matt’s building. “There are definitely a lot of people (skipping).”

Even with fans in the portable classrooms, most teachers have to turn them off because they’re too loud to instruct over, continued Grade 12 student Ian Iacovitti, referring to smaller issues like problems with the portables’ PA system.

Nino Marte and Mike Buzzetti – both members of St. Matt’s parent council – were also on the school grounds that night, taking a closer look at the 22 structures that have been the focus of frustration for the group for more than a decade.

“We’ve done our due diligence,” said Marte, the council chair, pointing out problems he’s noticed as a building and construction professional, including the use of gravel – which acts as a conductor for rainwater – on the portables’ site. “We’re talking about the health and safety of our children.”

Buzzetti – who went before the Ottawa Catholic School Board on Tuesday, April 28 to once again discuss either replacing all the portables or securing provincial funding to build an addition at St. Matt’s – singled out the warped wooden skirting around the structures’ bottoms, and issues like a “spongy” section of the floor in the portapack, as what he suggested demonstrates the buildings need to be replaced.

Most recently, the council presented a petition with between 2,000 and 3,000 signatures to Ottawa-Orléans MPP Phil McNeely to be brought forward to the province on their behalf, said Buzzetti, asking board trustees at the meeting that further air-quality testing be completed.

Testing needs to be done in various seasons while students are present to get an accurate reading, he continued, pointing to previous issues with silverfish and mouse droppings and his own worries that mould and mildew could be concerns.

Orléans-Cumberland OCSB trustee Stephen Blais, however, explained while some issues with the aging portables have arisen in the past, they have been dealt with “as immediately and professionally as possible.”

Some of the maintenance-related concerns are those that could exist even in new schools, saying that another air-quality test will be completed this spring.

“The safety and health and well-being of our students is always number one,” Blais stressed. “(Those issues) are no longer the case. The challenge of the portables is that they require ongoing maintenance.”

Blais also pointed to the fact that movement has been made on replacing the portables overall, with four slated to be removed at the end of this school year and all the windows set to be replaced. The board is also currently awaiting response from the province on another funding request for an addition at St. Matt’s, Blais added, though a previous request for funding was turned down because of projected declining enrolment, even while the school currently remains at 137 per cent capacity.

“It’s very positive that ministry officials are in contact with our officials,” he said, citing discussions as recently as the last few weeks. “We need to wait to hear back from the province.”

The declining enrolment numbers are “the bigger challenge we have right now,” continued board chair Gord Butler, also emphasizing that the comfort and security of students is their main concern. “It hasn’t been happening as fast (as predicted).”

Though the portables are “fairly structurally sound,” he said, it doesn’t change the fact some are approximately 20 years old.

“We’re at the mercy of (the province’s) rules.” Butler said.

While applauding the work done by trustees like Blais on the issue, both Marte and Buzzetti pointed to the parents as the next step in the puzzle, and one that may help better secure government funding.

“A lot of parents don’t realize what the kids are going through,” Marte suggested. “We have to get the parent community (involved).”