Local Guilford County school Smith High School appears to present a real danger to all who visit, teach, or attend. The Greensboro high school apparently has “bugs, mice, mold, and sharp metal” protruding around its facilities, especially its athletic facilities.
The deplorable conditions are the subject of a $5.3 million gym overhaul out of the school board’s $457 million construction program. The state of the gym and other parts of the school not only present hazards to everyone’s health, but also are detrimental to an environment of successful learning. The unsafe and unsanitary educational conditions also provide unsafe working conditions.
It is hard to take pride in your education, teaching, and your athletics when you feel embarrassed by the conditions in which you are situated. Worried parents, students, and the teachers have expressed their concerns and complaints to the school board. It is an issue that needs to be addressed and soon for the sake of the community.
While bugs and mice may be nuisances that come and go and are not out of the ordinary for large facilities, to have pest infestations on top of uncared for mold and sharp metal objects creates an environment that could later result in lawsuits that far exceed the cost of improving the school. Mold can lead to respiratory problems as well as other illnesses which can even affect the brain. The school and its community just want the hazards to be addressed and the school brought up to modern standards that can compete with others in the Guilford County school system.
If you find that you are being harmed by a workplace environment and its hazards such as the one described above, or have been in the past, please contact a workers’ compensation attorney who can help guide you through your legal options for restitution.
Source: Rhino Times, “Bugs, Mice, Mold, Sharp Metal At Smith,” Paul C. Clark, Dec. 6, 2012
