Families say their kids were sick every day at school, blame mold

By Marissa Sulek

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Several northwest suburban Chicago families say their children’s school is making them sick — and they took their concerns to district leaders in Buffalo Grove Tuesday night.

The children all attended Woodlawn Middle School in Long Grove. Among the youngsters affected were Isaac Lee and Scarlett Strezewski, whose parents said they both had to leave the school because each day, they would come home physically ill.

“I would get headaches, fatigue, muscle spasms, heart palpitations and dizziness,” said Scarlett.

Patrick Lee said his son was sick every day.

“He would go to school and he would come home — dizzy, not feeling well, headache,” Lee said.

Lee said Isacc’s symptoms got so intense that he was put in a wheelchair after he became paralyzed and lost the ability to speak.

Both Isaac and Scarlett tested positive for the same poisonous molds, which their parents collected themselves.

“Those symptoms align with, they’re on the EPA’s website under ‘sick building syndrome,'” said Scarlett’s mother, Lindsay Strezewski.

The Strezewskis said they ran into roadblocks while trying to transfer schools.

“We just asked for a transfer. We thought that would be the least confrontational way,” said Scarlett’s father, John Strezewski, “and what we didn’t expect was for the school to push back so much. They spent $31,000 blocking a simple transfer.”

A year after her first symptoms, Scarlett spoke at Kildeer Countryside School District 96 Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.

“I spent the past year fighting for something that should never have affected me,” she said.

District 96 said it has done its own mold test, which are on the district website, and added that the toxicity levels are safe.

The district sent CBS News Chicago a statement reading in part: “We believe these claims to be unfounded on the basis of thorough testing performed by independent, internationally recognized third-party professionals.”

But Scarlett’s family wants to see more action from the district so other kids don’t experience similar issues.

“It’s not fair to kids who have to worry about their health over education,” she said.

Scarlett has since transferred to a private school in the area, while Isaac is now at Stevenson High School. Their families say they no longer have any of the symptoms they experienced at Woodlawn Middle School.

Patrick Lee has also posted a petition demanding biannual mold-specific DNA testing at the school, immediate remediation of HVAC systems and air purification upgrades, and airborne mycotoxin environmental analysis to test and confirm safer air.

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