Settlement ends mold mess

May 30, 2007

Bethlehem Area School District to receive $175,000, closing the

books on 2000-01 crisis.

The Express-Times, Easton,PA

By KURT BRESSWEIN

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BETHLEHEM | A settlement approved Tuesday covers the last costs the

Bethlehem Area School District incurred in cleaning up mold that

closed Freemansburg Elementary School for an entire year.

School board members voted unanimously to accept the $175,000 from

Valiant Insurance Co., which covered the district during the 2000-01

mold crisis.

This settlement, reached in federal court, is in addition to a $1.2

million settlement the board approved in February. That money came

from three contractors whose work the district blamed for the mold.

The costs to the district would have been greater had community

businesses and volunteers not stepped in to help retrofit old

Bethlehem Steel Corp. offices into " Freemansburg South, " as the

makeshift school at 701 E. Third St. was called, district Assistant

Superintendent Stanley Majewski said.

" All our costs are covered, " he said Tuesday. " It took seven years

to do. "

Superintendent ph said he was " very satisfied " with the

settlements.

" It's fair, " he said. " We were looking basically to cover our costs.

The district has been made whole, in our opinion. "

The district traced the mold, including a potentially lethal strain,

to roof leaks caused during a summer 2000 roof replacement at the

501 Monroe St. school.

All 350 students began the following school year 12 days late in the

former Steel General Office building. Cleanup and inventory

replacement continued throughout the year.

Reporter Kurt Bresswein can be reached at 610-867-5000 or by e-mail

at kbresswein@....

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