Middle School Gets ‘Microb Phase’ Treatment 

By Kaaren Valenta

Wearing backpack sprayers, a small crew from Air Tech Environmental Services of Clifton Park, N.Y., treated the Newtown Middle School last Saturday to rid the building of possible fungi, mold, and bacteria. The treatment already had been used at the Board of Education’s new offices at Canaan House at Fairfield Hills.

“This is a pilot project,” said Dominick Posca, the school district’s supervisor of buildings and grounds. “We used it at Canaan House and it was really fantastic.”

The treatment, which has been used in the Region 15 schools and in Oxford, was designed for use in medical and commercial buildings, and is now being applied to public buildings, including schools, and in private homes where the occupants have allergies to mold and mildew. It kills microorganisms that cause such conditions as Legionnaire’s disease, athlete’s foot, and allergic rhinitis.

Mr Posca said that before the district decided to try the Microb Phase process, product information was submitted to Mark Cooper, director of the Newtown Health District, and to Brooks Lab.

“We have all of the MSD – material safety data sheets,” Mr Posca said. “We made sure the treatment is safe before we used it.”

According to the MSD report, once the material has been applied to material or surfaces, it has no ill effect on humans or animals. It does not release gases after treatment or have any other after-affects.

 Ronald C. Schongar, senior vice president of Air Tech, said the treatment is 95 percent rubbing alcohol and five percent of a trade secret additive that is not carcinogenic.

The Microb Phase process can be applied to walls, carpets, ceiling tiles, furniture, and other surfaces without staining or damaging the material, and it can be safely used in vegetable bins and food processing areas, he said.

“Once an area is treated it is non-hazardous to occupants,” Mr Schongar said. “It leaves the area with a clean fragrance.”

The cost to the district for the treatment of the middle school was $2,300. Mr Schongar said the treatment usually is good for several years but the building will be checked again in six months.

At a recent school board meeting, Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed said the treatment was done as part of the district’s preventative maintenance program, not because there are any known problems of mold, mildew, or bacteria in any of the schools.

Mr Schongar said Microb Phase originally was developed during the Korean War for MASH (mobile field hospitals) to sterilize surgical units. “It was perfected in Kuwait [during the Gulf War],” he said.

 Copies of the Microb Phase report are available at the superintendent’s office at the middle school for public view.