Parking lot tests reveal no carbon monoxide

Parents are concerned about the effects of longer bus rides.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Official test results from the state indicate no problem with carbon monoxide from bus exhaust at a transfer point for parochial school pupils.
Colleen Bagnoli, Austintown school district transportation director, said the test results came last week. Unofficially, the school district knew weeks ago results were good. Testing was Oct. 25 at St. Joseph School on New Road.
The district asked for the tests to address parents' concerns about diesel exhaust on buses and in the parking lot at St. Joe's, where pupils are bused from home to meet other buses that take them to their schools.
Some parents have said their children are complaining of headaches and nausea.
Frank Acevedo, an environmental protection specialist for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, said those ailments would be a reason to suspect dangerous carbon monoxide levels.
But when a consultant from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation's safety services division tested the air in the parking lot and on two buses in a line of six, carbon monoxide levels were all at zero, Bagnoli said.
Debbie Woodford, a parent who said her daughter is still complaining of stomach aches, said she hopes the tests were accurate.
Woodford, along with other parents, is upset by a change in bus routing this year that means longer rides for many pupils. She is worried that increasing her child's 10-minute ride to 45 minutes has left her vulnerable to effects from exhaust fumes.
Dangers of diesel exhaust
Woodford said she wondered why only carbon monoxide levels were tested.
Bagnoli said she was not sure. Terry Pavone, the engineering hygiene management consultant who did the tests for the BWC, could not be reached for comment.
Superintendent Douglas Heuer said the BWC was told the health complaints were headaches and nausea.
Carbon monoxide would likely be suspected in that case, Acevedo said.
Acevedo said, however, that other components of diesel exhaust are hard to test for because equipment is not readily available.
He also said that particulates in exhaust would more typically cause respiratory problems.
Acevedo said people are right to be concerned about diesel exhaust. He said particulates embed deep in the lungs and likely cause cancer.
He said there are ways to reduce risk for schoolchildren. Newer buses are better, he said, but maintaining older buses helps. He said equipment is available for retrofitting older buses.
Bagnoli said the district's oldest bus is 24 years old, but it is only used as a spare. She said that the buses used for the parochial pupils are all newer.
Acevedo said children should be on buses for the shortest time possible. Some Austintown parents have complained their children are riding for 45 minutes to an hour.
Acevedo said 45-minute bus rides are not unusual, adding the rides are "about average."
He also said an anti-idling policy is critical. Bagnoli said the district's buses do not sit idling.