When our union told us our school’s trailers were free of mold, that’s when we felt safe.
We have four transportable units at our school that have been here for 19 years. They’re supposed to have inspections on a periodic basis, and I believe they have been inspected over the years. But at the beginning of October 2017, one of our brand-new teachers in the trailer became ill on the job. She sent me pictures of what she thought were unsafe conditions: substances that didn’t look like they belonged in a classroom. In certain areas, around the air-duct vents, there were visible spots. In one classroom, if you touched the wall, it moved.
I called my district representative to ask the UFT safety team to come inspect. They showed up within 48 hours. They brought three people to take seven samples. They did a visual inspection and used a humidity reader to measure how wet the walls were. They sat and debriefed us about what they visually saw and then confirmed under a microscope: There were six different types of mold among the four classrooms in the trailers.
There was a lot of shock and concern for the health of our staff and our students. We immediately moved everyone out of the trailers. The work to remove the mold was done within a week, and it was all due to the UFT.
They’re the ones who found the issue and were able to get the proper DOE department to address it. If it wasn’t for the UFT, I don’t know how long we would have waited to have an inspection. The fact that you can pick up the phone and have someone walk you through the next steps when an issue arises really goes above and beyond.
The union even came in to do a follow-up inspection to make sure everything was remediated. My staff said they wouldn’t feel comfortable unless I had our union come back and check for the safety of our staff and students.
That’s why the union is so important to each member: We feel supported.
Elisa Balsamo is a teacher and chapter leader at PS 209 in Brooklyn.
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