Saugus District to Provide Toxicology Testing for Some

SAUGUS —  Seeking to ease parental concerns, Saugus Union School District officials have hired two toxicologists to provide free medical testing of any student who attended classes in one of two portable schoolrooms where poor air quality has been blamed for making several children sick.

Within the next few weeks, district officials plan to send letters to parents whose children were schooled in Room 40 at Rio Vista Elementary in Canyon Country or Room 30 at Charles Helmers Elementary in Valencia during the past school year, notifying them that the testing will be offered free of charge.

The announcement came after district officials repeatedly requested, but did not receive, copies of test results conducted by Dr. Gary Ordog that reportedly showed high levels of potentially toxic chemicals such as arsenic and formaldehyde in several students and staff members.

Ordog has told district officials that he found elevated chemical levels in several of his patients, but has declined to disclose actual results without his patients’ permission. Ordog was vacationing Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

The school district has hired toxicologists Phillip Harber, director of occupational health for UCLA’s School of Medicine, and James Dahlgren, who is in private practice, to do the testing.

A third toxicologist, Dr. Edward Faeder, executive vice president of SRF Environmental and Health Management Inc., has been hired as a consultant for the district’s environmental safety program.

Faeder specializes in finding the causes of health problems. So far, Faeder said, test results in both portable classrooms revealed extremely low amounts or no trace at all of the substances Ordog said he had found.

Meanwhile, more sensitive air testing of the two classrooms and comparative testing between inside and outside air around the classrooms will be done, Faeder said.

The district has also hired an epidemiologist, Dr. Pamela Anderson, to review all school nurse records at the two schools. “We’re looking for changes or patterns,” Faeder said. “Then we’ll interpret what it means.”

Foster is a reporter for Times Community News.