STUDENT SYMPTOMS PROMPT CALL FOR NEW STUDY.

Byline: Staff Writer

A year ago, when Lynn Levin's sixth-grade son started coming home from Lindero Canyon Middle School with chronic headaches and sinus infections, she suspected allergies.

But when eight of the boy's classmates began experiencing similar symptoms - in addition to asthma attacks and eye irritation - the parents began to suspect something else.

They are now pushing Las Virgenes Unified School District officials to test for toxic mold at the campus, which underwent an $880,000 mold remediation project in 1996-99. After appealing to the school board last month, parents plan to meet again today with administrators and will even offer to help pay for independent testing.

``What I would like is basically two things,'' Levin said. ``I would like an acknowledgment that there is a problem, and I would like an open give and take to a solution.

``Bottom line is we would like them to agree to an independent qualified inspector to go back on campus and check all the rooms that had been previously remediated.''

But Las Virgenes administrators say they have conducted repeated tests since the remediation effort, including visual checks and air samples, that show the classrooms are mold-free. And while the district will drill into walls to conduct more tests this summer, officials are reluctant to expand their efforts without just cause, said Donald Zimring, district deputy superintendent.

``I think that testing without a basis in evidence is certainly unrealistic especially in light of the resources that are available,'' he said. ``I think that what we're doing is as good or better than anybody, and any protocol we are certainly meeting or exceeding.''

Toxic mold is a controversial issue at districts across Southern California. Districts in Santa Clarita began an aggressive testing program after a scare there several years ago.

And the Los Angeles Unified School District postponed the opening of a Sun Valley high school in the converted Anthony Office Building when mold was discovered on the fourth floor and in the stairwells.

Despite concerns, health officials say the effects of toxic mold are largely unregulated.

``We prefer to err on the side of caution and assume that the mold that is present is capable of producing the kinds of problems we know can occur,'' said Sandy McNeel, a research scientist with the California Department of Health Services.

Those problems include airway and nose irritation resulting in a potential for wheezing or difficulty breathing, nasal or sinus congestion, eye irritation, coughing, skin rashes or irritation, nausea and eye irritation, McNeel said. Some molds also can cause nosebleeds, dizziness and short-term memory loss.

McNeel said her office receives about 20 inquiries a year from schools requesting assistance in handling mold-related problems.

``I suspect that there will still be lots of public concern about this particular topic for a while yet, until we can try to bring some more information and get that distributed to people,'' McNeel said.

The Department of Health Services, in response to the Toxic Mold Protection Act of 2001, is preparing to give a progress report to state lawmakers in January 2003.

``Some of the standards they've asked for are just not technologically feasible, but in the meantime we are also considering other options,'' McNeel said.

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, whose district includes Calabasas, is among many lawmakers pushing for more regulations in regards to toxic mold and indoor air quality.

``The situation is pretty acute in Calabasas right now,'' said Robin Podolsky, Kuehl's spokeswoman. ``We've got a staff person who is working on the situation, and who is attending the meetings of the school board. Right now we're working with the parents, trying to help them. To give them access to information.''