Black mold confirmed at Sullivan East

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Black mold confirmed at Sullivan East

BLOUNTVILLE -- Toxic stachybotrys, or " black mold, " was found in swab tests

at Sullivan East High School, county school officials confirmed Saturday.

by RICK WAGNER

Bristol Herald Courier

Oct 6, 2002

BLOUNTVILLE -- Toxic stachybotrys, or " black mold, " was found in swab

tests done in five of nine classrooms at Sullivan East High School, county

school officials confirmed Saturday.

" The samples that were taken did show some signs of black mold, " school

Maintenance Supervisor Joe Mike Akard said at a news conference attended by

a number of Sullivan East parents, some of whom said they were upset that

the testing wasn't done sooner.

In addition, test results showed that eight classrooms tested -- all but

one -- had mold of some kind present in ceiling tiles.

The announcement came one day after school officials said they were

closing the 1,000-student school near Bristol indefinitely while work

continues to remedy a long-standing mold problem.

Work to remove mold from the library was done last month while school

was in session. Officials did not decide to close the school until the swab

test results were received Friday afternoon that showed toxic mold was

present in the classrooms.

Stachybotrys is a fungus that produces hazardous byproducts called

mycotoxins. The toxins can cause respiratory problems that can be

particularly severe among very young children and the elderly.

" It's not dangerous unless it's airborne, " Akard said. " There's no

indication at this time we have any airborne spores. "

He said test results for airborne mold in classrooms should be back by

Friday, and he said additional airborne-mold tests in other areas of the

school -- including the gym and band room -- would be done Monday and the

results returned in two weeks.

During the news conference, parents asked why the testing wasn't done

until well after school started when a problem with mold was apparent before

school ended last spring.

" You didn't want to test it until we notified the news media, " parent

Bessie McCracken told Assistant Schools Director Glenn Arwood.

" When we got the report back, we reacted immediately, " Arwood said.

McCracken said after the news conference that she was the person who

called area news media anonymously last month to alert them of the mold

problem at East.

Emergency removal of the mold will take four to six weeks to complete

and could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, officials said.

Arwood said officials had no answers yet about whether classes could be

relocated to other buildings or how missed school days would be made up.

The mold problems in classrooms at Sullivan East were caused by

inadequately insulated cooling lines. The lines sweat, leaking condensation

into ceiling tiles and creating a breeding ground for mold.

Of swab tests for 24 molds, six were found. The highest concentration of

stachybotrys found at East was in a concentration of 2.3 million spores per

swab.

Other molds found were penicillin-like aspergillus -- the most common

and in the highest concentrations aside from black mold -- as well as

alternaria, amerospores, stemphylium and smuts/myxomycetes.

" It sounds like you guys have let this go on and on without addressing

the problem, " another person said at the news conference.

Akard said the school system consistently hears complaints about

humidity and potential mold problems at 20-25 of its 31 schools. He said the

school system generally doesn't test mold but tries to eliminate the source

of moisture causing it.

Still, he said, the system has spent an estimated $150,000 in recent

years on mold testing at six schools, although black mold showed up only at

East. The other five tested were Blountville Middle, Holston Middle, Rock

Springs Elementary, Sullivan South High and Elementary.

Because black mold generally is not that harmful when not airborne, it's

crucial that the problem at East be fixed before the heating season begins,

Akard said. Heat would reduce the moisture keeping the mold fixed to the

ceiling tiles, he said.

Akard said emergency mold removal in 40 classrooms at East will require

hiring companies certified in mold remediation.

The cost of the removal comes in a particularly tight budget year.

The school system this year passed a trimmed-down $77 million budget

that did not include funding for more than $700,000 in work to meet state

fire marshal requirements and $600,000 for health insurance costs.

The school board, at the suggestion of County Executive Venable,

decided to handle those costs separately from the regular budget and passed

a spending plan late last month that ignored those needs.

Venable said at the time that the County Commission would help the

school system come up with the money.

On Saturday, Akard said it was clear that commissioners will have to

help pay for fixing the mold problem as well.

Testing done so far by Blountville-based S & ME Inc. and analyzed by

Phoenix-based Aeroteck Laboratories has cost about $15,000.

All told, the mold remediation -- originally projected to cost about

$70,000, with $40,000 to be covered by existing funds -- will " go into the

hundreds of thousands of dollars, easily, " Akard said Saturday.

In addition, he said, the school system will go ahead and replace a

leaky roof over hallways in the school's A pod that has caused mold in some

ceiling tiles there.

He said a low bid of $230,000 for the roofing project later was rebid

for $190,000 when some items were removed, but he said fixing bad roofs in

schools countywide could cost $5 million or more.

Because of the nature of the situation and the need to reopen the school

as quickly as possible, the county may declare an emergency and waive

competitive bidding, said Akard, a former county purchasing agent.

He said the county's current purchasing agent, Nelda Hulse, would meet

with certified contractors on Monday.

Akard said multiple contractors may be hired to work in different parts

of the building to speed up the process. Work is to include replacing 1-inch

cooling line insulation with 3-inch insulation.

Sullivan East Principal Rouse said she would be at the school

Monday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. so students, parents, teachers and employees

can retrieve items from the school, which eventually will be sealed up for

mold removal to begin.

Board of Education member Sherry Grubb of Bluff City suggested students

pick up textbooks and that teachers try to get syllabus information to

students, if possible, so some study can continue while the removal is done.

Environmental Protection Agency indoor air quality information:

www.epa.gov/iaq

Rick Wagner may be reached at rwagner@... or (276) 645-2518