Expert questions McLeod West indoor air quality

do it. everyone in that district should do it. money and effort are being wasted and they are just prolonging the inevitable. i think blh has a 2 for 1 registration going on so bring a friend. if they get too many people transferring, they might close their borders. i heard they are putting up gaurd towers and barbed wire fences. the national gaurd will be called up. hurry before it's too late. GW is overlooking the whole operation.

Give me a break! Who is this lady? I've been employed here for 24 years and I'm still vertical!

What will you guys at the Leader do if we close? You'll have to go to a once-a week format!

I have been a student at McLeod West for 12 years now. I am proud to be a student at McLeod West and I appreciate the education I recieve here. McLeod West offers a necessary curriculum and I feel that all this bashing should stop. The teachers, staff, and students all work very hard at McLeod West to be who they are. We deserve more credit than anybody is giving us! We are students trying to get an education and what has it come down to, a split between the towns Brownton and Stewart. Both towns are at fault for this and we need to work together and put the education first. I feel like I'm probably preaching to the choir, because everyone should know this by now, but NO everyone acts like they are clueless! At McLeod West we know what we are going through and what problems we have financially. We wish we could fix the problems we have but honestly the money isn't there. Yes, it's true we would appreciate a new building but can we afford it, no. Is the community willing to help? For the most part no. We need the community to get a new school, so if you think your kids deserve to be in a better building that is your choice. The students at McLeod West don't what to be a BLH Mustang or a GFW Thunderbird, WE WANT TO BE MCLEOD WEST FALCONS! I also have a question for you gloppy, How the heck would you know that we are far behind? (which we aren't) You would need a proper student to test that knowledge and I don't believe that you have had that chance. The students who want to be at McLeod West try hard and they are educated just as good as anyone else and if you want to take that up with me you can, because I am a student at McLeod West and I would know.

I am also a student at McLeod West high school, and I have a bit of a different opinion from some of my peers posting recently on this subject.
First of all, I would like to say that, although there have been alot of stories representing McLeod West as a sinking ship in the past few months, I am still very proud to be a MW Falcon. HOWEVER, I do feel that there comes a time when "School Pride" must stop and "Common Sense" (hence my alias" must come into play.

I just want you all to understand, before you misinterpret this post, that I love my school very much. I have come up in this school, and have received not only an excellent education (gauged not by performance among my peers, but on nationally accredited tests) but also the love and care from my teachers and peers.

Now that I have established that, I would like to explain what I mean when I say "common sense". For the past, 2-3 years I would say, there has been a definite feeling that things are begging to come apart at our school. People may not agree, but this is a personal observation. Amongst the students, there have been definite expressions of deep concern involving their futures, as well as the future of our school. Now, I'm no finance expert, but I think it's safe to say that MW won't be running as a K-12 for very much longer. They are now planning on taking major cuts in their curriculum over the next 1-2 years, leaving them with a significant decrease from the electives they offer presently (which still isn't an impressive amount). Also, with the sale of the Stewart Building eminent (or final- I'm not positive on this subject), this means MW is planning on remaining in the Brownton campus for the rest of their years. With the release of an article like this, which may or may not be fact, it sends a bit of a scare through the heart of someone who is in this building 8 hours a day, or more, 5 days a week.

Now, I'm not here to tell anyone what to do with their education, that is their own choice. I am here to express to you, from my perspective and EXPERIENCE in this school (because many provide opinions but have never even been to our school) what I feel is common sense. The most recent campaign slogan for the MW supporters has been, "Let's stick together", but I feel it's time we move on. WAIT! Before you get upset and start blogging about how asbsurd my statements are, let me explain.

With the way things are looking in the future for MW (reduced curriculum, deteriorating facilities, falling enrollment) can you honestly tell yourself that your kids will be receiving the BEST possible education they could be receiving? I don't feel so. And I know it's not about the facilities, it's about the teachers inside them, but MW has cut many of their faculty just in the last week. It's not even about just the BUILDING anymore. Frankly, it's about the KIDS. I understand that MW is doing the best job they can with the resources they have, and for years this has worked excellent, but I think now is the time to draw the line. There comes a point when you must make a decision you may not like, but is BEST for you, or your child. If that decision is to stay in the MW district, than I more than respect that decision (that's the decision I made) and I hope and pray every day that something happens that turns this terrible situation around @ MW. But for now, you know where I stand.

I just want to say that I think we need to start listening to the children around the area. There are so many that are being more adult than the adults around here. It isn't about us it's about the kids and I think there are many that aren't thinking about the kids like they should. I lived in the cities for 6 years and the biggest seller there for private schools was the small class sizes, the teachers with years and years experience. And yet here people complain that the class sizes are so small and the teachers have been here forever.

I don't know what the answer is but both of my children want to stay at McLeod West. I hope they both will be able to stay, but only time will tell.

i was just noticing something. bigmouth says he/she has been employed at mcleod west for 24 years. i was looking at the times of his/her posts. you sure do have some funny break times at mcleod west. what exactly is your function there that allows you to make posts at 10:10, 10:22, and 10:35? most people only get a 15 minute morning break. maybe they should investigate how employees of mcleod west are using their time. this employee took at least a 25 minute break. i bet a real school like blh and gsl don't allow this sort of misuse of time. i bet you even found time to warm up your bottle of milk and drink it. tsk tsk

I am also a student at MW. Who is not afraid to have his identity known. I have been at McLeod West for 8 years, but I love this school and I would like to see it thrive.

I don’t know who this consultant is, and if her sources are creditable, but why would you say something like this

“It’s a deadly, dangerous game you play,” she added. “If you ignore it even at the levels you have, your kids will die. Or at least become seriously ill.”
Telling kids that if they go to this school they will die, I am not saying that our school has air pollution problems. I’m sure there are other schools that have this problem; I don’t doubt that fact, but still why you would say something like that
Yes, granted now that our school is making cuts to the point where it wouldn’t be real possible to get a good education, but it is our own fault as voters for ignoring the problem until the very last minute. Now we are in so far in debt that we can’t save the district with out making serious cuts which would make it hard to get a good education.
Commonsense is right its time to move on you can’t get a good education if you have to cut teachers. I made the decision along time ago when this all started to stay in the MW district, because I thought that the voters would at least pass an operating levy to keep the district afloat but it didn’t happen. I kept having faith and kept hoping that the district would thrive, but unfortunately we are now to the point that even if this one year plan works we will probably lose too many students to even remain open
It’s suppose to be about the kids but in my opinion that’s not the case anymore it’s about our own personal interest and if anyone owes some one an apology in this district, the citizens in this district owe the students an apology.

I am proud to be a McLeod West student

Excuse me GLOPPY, but some people have a prep hour where they plan there day.. and the rest of the week and i think his/her prep time was during that hour and maybe you should get a JOB.! haha! and because he was writing on this wall he much be AHEAD of schedule.!

GLOPPY GET A JOB. and stop talking about our school.! our school must be good cause there are plenty of people that sticking up for our school. and im sure Bigmouth is responding to all of this cause he CARES about our school!...

it probably doesn't matter. gloppy hasn't posted in a while. chances are your friends at the hutch leader took care of him.

In response to Andrew Zellmann and all the students. The citizens of this district do NOT owe any apoligies. The problem lies within the decision making of our very own school board. THEY are the ones that make the final decisions as to what is going to happen to the future of McLeod West. They need to listen to what citizens are saying and do some compromising along the way. You need a balance of give and take...not just take. They haven't done that to this day! It doesn't take a genius to figure out the terrible decisions that they have made and will undoubtly continue to make. Go to a meeting and see for your self how they work. The students are taught to work together and respect others while our very own school board which consists of adults can't seem to to acomplish this task. I think every body needs to look at what has happened to our school board. They have lost 5 board members in 1 year. Does that tell you anything? A school board that can't get along or work with each other or the citizens isn't a school board that is going to get the task done that lies ahead for this district. They really haven't done any thing to make the situation better. WHAT ARE THEY WAITING FOR?? The only thing they have accomplished is ending careers of some good teachers and upsetting the public with how they are wasting time and money and getting nowhere. Mr. Boyer (who was hired by our school board) was supposed to be the person to help McLeod West and the school board has gone against his proposals already. Does that make any sense?? What do we need him for if they're not going to listen to him any way. It's a waste of time and money that we don't have. I hope the students can understand that every thing that happens to McLeod West starts with our school board so start talking to them....maybe THEY will listen to your hearts. I feel for you students as well as the teachers and hope you can all make a stand for your selfs, show some guts and let the school board no that they need to start listening to the people and try to make both towns happy or this will fail for sure. GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

THIS SCHOOL BOARD IS MAKING THE DECISIONS NOW NOT THE PREVIOUS BOARDS!! And i didn't mean they are pushing teachers out..but the decisions they have made have forced this issue. I think it could have been avoided with some team work. And when you say "silly board member" you couldn't have said it any better. I will go along with the rest of your thoughts though.

If there is no State or Federal Guidelines on how much mold is bad, then how can there be "mortal danger"?

I went to school there and graduated, never had any problems with "mold sickness" or anything else, McLeod West is a GREAT school, with GREAT teachers!

I would go as far to say McLeod West is BETTER then ANY school in the area!

I'm sorry but this whole thing is rather amusing grown adults fighting with kids, it's just like war, only know one is winning.

Where not gaining anything by doing this.

I am a senior at McLeod West High School, and I have a few things to say about these arguments, and the article that was posted in the paper. I would first like to say that we DO know that our school will be closed sooner or later. There is no reason to write such articles that put our school down like this. Almost every big building like our school has had or has a mold problem to a certain severity. As far as I know, we are dealing with the issue, but we are NOT going to die from this problem. It's understandable to be mad about a thing like this, but it's an unavoidable situation that's being dealt with.

Next I would like to bring up the issue on students being behind in classes at McLeod West. There is no reason for a student to fail a class at McLeod West, or at any other school, except that they aren't trying. It all depends on how much effort the student is willing to put in. As a student who has had first hand experience at failure, I would know that it's possible to succeed here. The classes are just as challenging here at McLeod West as they are at any other school.

As for Bigmouth spending school time posting blogs on here, he/she is one of the best teachers I have ever had. That person spends a lot of time making sure that the students here are learning something from him/her. And they are! At least the students who actually care and apply themselves are. As for BLH, they miss full hours of class for more stupid things than an article criticizing their school. Such as an assembly on why a few of their students tried to light the McLeod West Stewart campus gym on fire. And they most definitely have more full school days and half days off then we do here at McLeod West. For the great GFW, they can't even afford to give out books to their students.

I'm not here to make everyone more mad, i just want you to realize that McLeod West isn't any different than any other school around here. All or our schools dealing with issues, don't bring just McLeod West down.

Interesting that these current students of McLeod West are doing all their posting during School hours.

When the School Board chose to close the Stewart Campus, I am convinced it was the death knell for McLeod West. Enrollment is down to just a handful over 300, and the Kindergarten class is only 14. The handwriting is on the wall and I believe it's only a matter of time before the district is finished. A previous poster said money isn't everything, but in a school district it's everything. The district is just not sustainable with so few students. And that's a fact of life, sorry.

"your kids will die. Or at least become seriously ill.”
That caught my attention! So I did a little research. I read the mold information on the website of the Department of Health and Human Services Center for Disease Contol & Prevention. I couldn't find anything on anyone who has died from mold. There is a POSSIBLE link to INFANT death and STACHYBOTRYS CHARTARUM. I don't think infants attend our school and quote from the article " Test results showed no sign of Stachybotrys chartarum — the notorious “black mold”. From everything I could find the effects from mold would be some type of allergic reaction depending on the person. It COULD be more serious for someone with asthma. My child has asthma. My child with asthma goes to school there and yet has not had to use asthma meds since last spring (allergy season). My child will continue to go to school there. Why? Because I don't believe the mold problem is as serious as Jorge's article suggests. In fact the info I read from the government was nothing like the opinion of consultant for hire - Linda May.
I do believe there is some mold. I do believe that something needs to be done. I also think this has been greatly exaggerated.
As a resident of the McLeod West School district, what I question is...Was this a news article or a way to stir up trouble?...and isn't it funny that this was printed the same day of the closing on the Stewart building....What timing! :)

I have a crazy suggestion. What if the students are in computer classes, which is a fact, and instead of wasting their free time (after assignments are completed of course), they decide they might come on this site and express their support for their school?

I don't know about you, but I would be more than proud of my child for standing up for themselfs in a situation such as this, when they could easily be screwing around on some gaming site.

I know some people would like to put blame on the school board, but in the end it's up to the community. Once enrollment started to decline, that's what hurt McLeod West and that was not a decision made by the school board.

Student_of_2008, for someone who doesn't want others to bash your school, maybe you should stop bashing other schools. OR, at least get your facts straight. As far as the incident you are discussing, that was 2 students that chose to make a bad decision. One of those students was removed from BLH, and the other (who was with, but didn't do anything) was suspended for 15 days. The other students were informed of the punishments, so that it would be shown that things like that would not be tolerated. As far as
"they most definitely have more full school days and half days off then we do here at McLeod West", if you check out both school's websites, you will find that McLeod West had 172 student contact days, while BL-H has 179 student contact days. Last time I checked, 172 was less than 179 - actually, by over a full school week. I don't have any personal experience at GFW, so I won't comment there. I will only comment on the schools I have spent time in, and actually know firsthand.
I don't think people are talking about students being behind in classes at McLeod West, because on this point you are correct. Any student can succeed (or fail) at any school depending on how much time and effort they put in. I totally agree with you there. The point people are trying to make is that when McLeod West students go to other schools, they are behind. I know that all of the McLeod West students that go to BLH after 6th or 7th grade have a real hard time getting caught up in the English classes, and many have troubles in math also.
I'm glad you are proud of your school and if you truly believe in it, you should fight for it. However, you would get more people to listen to you if you stuck to supporting your school and not bashing others. Oh, and always check your facts.

Alright, there is no mold in this school. There is no trace from the tests done here at school. No reason to keep saying it when it is not true. It is true the school is rundown, however our school is still running just fine. I see no problems in the way the school runs and the students that like this school. I do admit however that this district needs a new school to keep the county afloat but it can't be helped.