Air Quality Tests at School Completed

Following complaints by more than 20 Esperanza High School teachers of sinus, throat and upper respiratory problems, officials have completed a survey to gauge the severity of the situation.

“It certainly was enough for us to want to look into this,” Kim Stallings, assistant superintendent of Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, said of the survey. The results showed that about half of 40 faculty members who work in the same building have health complaints.

Findings from air quality tests and a thorough building inspection should be available in about three weeks, Stallings said.

A preliminary building report by Machado Environmental Corp. in Glendale found high levels of allergens from dust mites--microscopic insects--and a low level of outside air circulating into the building, but detected no problems more serious than that, officials said.

The school has received no complaints from parents or students about the building, which houses the library, science laboratories and language arts classes.