Mold bill to top $500,000 at Sullivan East High School

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Mold bill to top $500,000

Officials say East may reopen by Thanksgiving

BLOUNTVILLE -- Mold remediation at Sullivan East High School will cost more

than $500,000, but it should be completed in time for students to return to

the main campus before Thanksgiving, county officials said Monday.

by RICK WAGNER

Bristol Herald Courier

Oct 22, 2002

BLOUNTVILLE -- Mold remediation at Sullivan East High School will cost

more than $500,000, but it should be completed in time for students to

return to the main campus before Thanksgiving, county officials said Monday.

Sullivan County Schools Director O'Dell, who gave the County

Commission an update on the mold situation, closed the school Oct. 7 after

" black mold " was discovered there.

" We hope to be out of there in another three weeks, " O'Dell said,

referring to classes being held at Bristol Motor Speedway. " This has gone as

well as it could have gone, considering the circumstances. "

O'Dell said the final cost of the remediation and related expenses,

which county Purchasing Agent Nelda Hulse said she hoped will not exceed

$600,000, will not be known until after Christmas.

O'Dell said he will approach the commission about funding needs,

including the mold work, more than $700,000 in Tennessee State Fire Marshall

mandates and an estimated $600,000 required to change health insurance

policies next year. Options under consideration include a bond issue that

would be repaid over time.

None of those costs were included in the $77 million school budget for

2002-03, and O'Dell said he fears that sales tax revenues may come up short

after the Christmas holiday season.

The school's closure came after test results received the afternoon of

Oct. 4 showed toxic " black mold " or stachybotrys. Students started attending

classes at BMS, six miles from the school, on Oct. 14.

O'Dell said that by today or Wednesday, the school system will provide a

tent or other means of shielding students who eat lunch in an open, unheated

area at the base of the race track.

At the request of County Commissioner Ralph Harr of Bristol, County

Executive Venable said that he will draft resolutions to honor

Bristol Motor Speedway for allowing free use of BMS skyboxes and other areas

for students.

Venable said resolutions also will honor: Appalachian Business Systems

for providing a free copier; Sprint for putting in free, temporary

high-speed Internet access; Culligan for providing free water; Sam's

Wholesale Club for donating food supplies; Electrolux for providing 12 air

purifers and anti-mold carpet treatment; and Holston Bus Co., which is

providing extra buses to shuttle students from the parking area to BMS.

School officials said the black mold problems were mostly from

under-insulated " chiller " pipes that caused condensation to form and drop

onto porous ceiling tiles. The black mold was found in five of nine swab

tests done on classroom ceiling tile in the school's A circle. Other

airborne and surface molds were found in various parts of the building.

However, subsequent tests showed no airborne black mold spores, but

found some black mold near the baseboard of a modular unit separate from the

main building. O'Dell said he hopes that tests results due later this week

will reveal no airborne black mold.

" We think by this Thursday, we will have that verified for the rest of

the school, " O'Dell said.

Mold in the library -- which officials said was not black mold _ was

corrected before the classroom tests came back.

Hulse, the county's purchasing agent, provided figures that showed the

projected costs so far would be $516,178, although she said that some may

end up costing less and repair costs on the " chiller " pipes are not known.

The largest single cost so far, which was an emergency purchase made

without normal competitive bidding, is a maximum of $162,100 to E. Luke

Greene Co. of Strawberry Plains, Tenn., for removing mold-contaminated

materials, disposing of them, vacuuming and treating fixtures and furniture

to resist mold growth.

Other costs provided by Hulse included:

-- $78,189 from Ellis Insulation Inc. of ton for reinsulating

the contaminated chiller pipes, as well as reinsulating couplings and

insulating pool area pipes with PVC jackets.

Hulse said that could end up being a little less. However, if chiller

units inside each classroom require reinsulating, that could add $400 for up

to 68 units, which would cost an additional $27,200.

-- 53,837 from S & ME of Blountville for testing and sampling before,

during and after remediation, putting together a scope of work and on-site

observations.

-- $53,300 from Mullins Co. Inc. of Kingsport for putting in new

mold-resistant ceiling tiles in designated areas, along with new grid

systems in the rear of some classrooms.

The last remediation cost will be done by C.M. Henley Co. LLC of ,

Tenn., for replacement of a leaking roof in the A circle. A bid for $168,752

was received from Henley in July 2002, but will still be honored by the

contractor, Hulse said.