Sullivan County School System

[Guest guest]

http://www.bristolnews.com/front/MGB26NHTF6D.html

Sep 23, 2002

School claims advances over mold problem

by RICK WAGNER

Bristol Herald Courier

Lynn of the Sullivan County School System applies adhesive around

the edges of an old vent in the Sullivan East high School library as he

works on the school's project to eliminate a mold problem.

( )

The 950 students at Sullivan East High School should be able to reclaim

their library today after $22,000 worth of work to remedy a mold problem

there.

And tonight, parents attending a Parent-Teacher Association open house

will be able to question school officials about the mold situation as well

as get information on work to start later in the week on about 20 classrooms

that also have a problem with mold.

" We have had a moisture problem for years, " Principal Rouse said in

her office Friday morning as she did something that has become common for

her in recent weeks -- being interviewed by a reporter.

Rouse said 14 parents had called concerning the situation following

newspaper and television reports earlier this month. She said most just had

questions or actually complimented the school system's response, although

she called two of them " irate. "

Some have complained the mold is making their children sick.

Officials say the problem is being handled as quickly and efficiently as

they know how.

" That is being addressed the very best I know how to address it, " county

Schools Director O'Dell said last week. " There's been a little bit of

hysteria over that. "

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, mold can cause

allergic reactions and in some cases can be toxic.

Rouse said at least one student has been particularly allergic to the

mold. But some rumors about the situation have been untrue, she said.

No one has been hospitalized because of exposure to the mold, and

officials have no reason to believe any of the fungus is " black mold, " as at

least one parent has indicated. Black mold, or stachybotrys mold, is toxic

and can be deadly.

Black mold has to have cellulose -- usually wood or a wood product -- to

develop and can't grow on concrete, metal or plastic, according to the

school system's heating, ventilation and air-conditioning foreman, Kenny

Goff.

" The black mold has never shown up in any amount in any of our testing, "

Goff said of previous mold incidents at Blountville Middle and Rock Springs

Elementary schools. " We haven't had any indication or any reason to believe

it was toxic mold. "

The library mold was in 200 feet of old heating and cooling duct.

Instead of a standard sheet-metal duct, it was an unlined concrete-and-block

trench just below floor level and below bookshelves.

O'Dell, the schools director, said a temporary shutdown of the heating

and cooling system over the summer to allow for installation of a new boiler

may have compounded the humidity and mold problem in the library.

The library has four dehumidifiers, but the cooling system also removes

moisture from the air.

The library was closed last Monday, and workers started encapsulating

the old ductwork that contained mold and installing new ductwork overhead.

Most of the work was done by HVAC Inc. of Bristol Tennessee, although county

workers did some of the work sealing the old vent area.

Now, each classroom in the affected A pod or circle area of the school

will be addressed one at a time, officials said. Contract workers are to

remove 1-inch insulation from the pipes carrying cooling water and replace

it with 3-inch insulation.

O'Dell, who plans to meet with the school's faculty about the situation

on Thursday, said that should stop mold-friendly condensation from forming

and dripping onto ceiling tiles.

Mold in a hallway will be addressed for the time being by replacing

ceiling tiles that get wet due to a roof leak, O'Dell said. He said the roof

is about four or five years old and leaks because of an installation or

design flaw.

Don Morrell, carpenter foreman for the school system, said the problem

appears to be a design flaw in the way the flat roof over the hallway was

tied in to a roof placed over the library dome in 1998.

" We had a guy come from Knoxville who guaranteed he could fix it, "

Morrell said. " He never did, but he never came back to get his money,

either. "

ODell said the school system, struggling with a budget shortfall of $1.5

million to $3 million or more, simply doesn't have the $250,000 needed to

replace the roof this year.

School board members Jack Bales of Sullivan Gardens and Larry of

Colonial Heights have urged O'Dell to see whether the contractor who

installed the roof has any liability to help fix the problem.

The cost of fixing the classrooms and library will run about $70,000,

O'Dell said.

Meanwhile, the problem should subside naturally as the weather turns

cooler and heating replaces air-conditioning in the building, O'Dell said.

" All the mold problems go away when you start heating, but we want it to

be gone before that, " he said.