Carpeting removed to stem Mendham Twp. school mold

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Carpeting removed to stem Mendham Twp. school mold

By JULIE LANGE, Staff Writer October 10, 2002

MENDHAM TWP. - The carpeting has been removed from one of the classrooms in

the Mendham Township Elementary School and some other near-term measures

have been added to the district's plan for solving air quality problems in

the elementary and middle schools.

A revised remediation timeline was posted on the district website Tuesday

for repairing leaky roofs and for removing moldy carpeting at the K-4

elementary school and the grade 5-8 middle school.

The timeline includes several new action items for the month of October,

including the already completed removal of carpeting in room 214 of the

elementary school.

That room was identified by environmental hygienist Lynch in his

Sept. 17 report as one of the areas where higher levels of outdoor fungal

spores were present.

As recently as two weeks ago, district officials planned to wait until

summer to remove all carpeting in the schools except for the elementary

school library.

But unlike other carpeted areas, no asbestos abatement was required in room

214, said Township School Superintendent Fehn at the school board

meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Survey Coming

The new timeline also promises that a health survey will be distributed this

month to parents of elementary school students to identify possible symptoms

due to air quality-related allergic responses.

However, Fehn said at the meeting that he was having trouble finding a

suitable survey to use.

Fehn said he has also analyzed student absence data from the 2001-2002

school year to identify pupils whose health may have been affected by

environmental reactions.

Based on this data, he has met with parents whose children may have been

affected, and the district has worked out some interim measures to help

accommodate the children's needs, Fehn said.

For example, special HEPA filters will be placed in rooms where mold has not

been adequately contained with scheduled cleaning and HEPA vacuuming. One

child has been moved to a different classroom.

Meanwhile, a second round of construction bids for school roof repairs is

expected by Oct. 17, Fehn said. The district decided to rebid the project

when all of the initial bids came in substantially over budget.

Fehn said the project specifications have been revised to offer bidders more

flexibility. The original specifications called for the work to be done

outside school hours, which necessitated overtime labor rates.

However, straight-time pricing could mean postponing the repairs until the

end of the school term.

" We're keeping our options open, " he said.

The school administration posted a Sept. 23 letter on its website from the

state Department of Health and Senior Services. But resident Terrill Doyle

wanted to know why the website did not include the agency's actual report on

its Sept. 19 indoor air quality survey of the elementary school.

The letter on the website provides only statistical data without any

explanation, Doyle said, but the actual report describes " microbial

amplification " in the school as well as a potential violation of state laws

regarding building maintenance.

She said it was misleading to pick and choose which information to include

on the website because " it gives the public the impression that's all there

is. "

Fehn said the report was not posted because the administration is

challenging some of its contents.

©Observer - Tribune 2002