What to Know
- A group of teachers at PS 25 on Staten Island say the students and staff's health is at risk because of mold and rodents filling the school
- The DOE says they are monitoring the conditions with the landlord in charge of maintaining the building and added that 'there is no mold'
- Newly-elected Congressman Max Rose disputes the DOE comments, saying he could see and smell the mold inside the school
A group of teachers are calling attention to what they say are disgusting conditions at a school for children with special needs on Staten Island.
The teachers at PS 25 claim students and staff routinely get sick and they say it’s because the classrooms are filled with mold, insects and rodents.
“For three years, I have worked in a classroom filled with mold, insects and rodents,” 6th grade teacher Sarah Spurge said at a public meeting. “The A/C and heat units in my classroom are filled with mold so we don’t use them. We are cold in the winter and hot in the summer.”
Spurge and other teachers say the conditions are not fit for the more than 100 students who attend the school. Pictures taken in early September appear to show mold growing on table tops and chalkboards.
The Department of Education tells News 4 that they are monitoring the conditions with the landlord in charge of maintaining the building.
“We completed remediation in September and there is no mold in this building,” DOE spokesperson Miranda Barbot said.
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Newly-elected Congressman Max Rose disputes the DOE's comments, saying he could see and smell the mold inside the school.
“I was just absolutely sick to my stomach,” he said. “There was mold everywhere.”
A new location is a possible solution, but that could take time.
“This is a population of children that needs us the most,” Spurge said.
