Experts worry about polluted air in portable classrooms. (Honeywell Inc.)

Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News, September, 1994

Health officials in Maine and elsewhere have received complaints about the quality of air in portable classrooms. Children with allergies, asthma or sensitivity to mold, dust or mildew are especially vulnerable to indoor air pollution. Maine has begun to require that the portable classrooms it subsidizes have ventilation systems capable of introducing adequate outside air.

WINSLOW, Maine--A mother's testimony during a Maine legislative hearing emotionally summarized the national concern about polluted air in "portable" or temporary classrooms.

"I said he was the proverbial canary in the coal mine," Linda Bean recalled. "He's the one who got sick first, but there will be others."

Her son Troy was just another kid with asthma until his fourth grade...