Superintendent

Dear Community,

You have no doubt heard of the issues we are facing in the Middle School and the ongoing struggle with the heating and cooling systems. On occasion, an odor has been noticed coming from the vents, and at times symptoms such as itchy eyes, sore throats and headaches have been reported. This obviously causes an uncomfortable learning and working environment for the students and staff. To date, with the inclusion of the Washington State and Thurston County Health Departments, and also with the help of a Certified Indoor Health scientist, we have tested for 52 different possible contaminants, finding nothing definite however, will continue to pursue this problem until a solution is found. In light of the situation, we have made a decision to keep students and staff out of the building until we can find the source and ensure that the building is appropriate for all. Who has been working on the problem? The following is a partial list:

Betschart Mechanical (subcontractor who installed the system)

Greg Glasl (Maint. Director)

Doug Henry (Principal Scientist for a company called E3RA)

Nancy Bernard (Washington State Health Department Indoor Health Specialist)

Staff from the Thurston County Health Department

Legal Counsel

Insurance Companies representing the District and Construction Company

Richard Prill from Washington State University

Our Board Members

Jim Stoner (Consultant and Engineer from Hainline and Associates in Seattle)

Richmond Engineering (Those who designed the system)

While this is a partial list, you can see we have sought expertise from all areas to assist in finding a solution and will continue to do so. The pursuit of the problem is now being directed by a team from Construction Management Services, those who assisted in the construction process itself.

While we continue to look for a way to solve this, we appreciate your continued patience as we know that displacing students and staff is an unsettling event. Thus far, everyone has done a great job of flexing and continuing the education of students in the best manner possible.

If you have questions please feel free to give me a call.

Dennis Friedrich, Ed.D.

Superintendent, Rainier School District