Mold found in classrooms at Capital High School

July 15, 2005

Friday July 15, 2005

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Construction crews found mold this month inside classrooms at

Capital High School, the Olympia School District announced today.

A follow-up investigation by a consultant determined there was

a " significant " amount of mold — spreading up from the floor as high

as 3 feet — in two classrooms, according to a report completed

Tuesday. The consultant also tested 14 other classrooms and

found " minor " amounts of mold — spanning as high as a few inches

above the floor — in each one.

The Olympia School Board is expected to consider an emergency

resolution at a meeting Monday to allow the district to hire an

abatement firm as soon as possible to clean up the mold before staff

and students return to Capital High School in September.

" The district has decided to move forward aggressively and take care

of the problem, " said Rex, the Olympia School District's

spokesman. " We expect able to be finished by start of school. "

Mold can cause health prob-lems.

And it's possible that the mold has lingered in the Capi-tal High

School walls for a few years. However, district and state health

officials say it's unlikely that the mold caused health problems for

Capital's staff and students because it was sealed behind the walls.

" The overall exposure to anyone in the school would be exceedingly

low, " said Tim Hardin, indoor air quality program manager for the

state of Washington.

Also, state health officials say the number of absences and

incidence of asthma at Capital both fall within normal parameters.

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