Trailer cleanup project grows - More time needed for mold work

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Trailer cleanup project grows

More time needed for mold work

Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park,NJ*

09/28/07

BY KEVIN PENTON

KEYPORT BUREAU

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20070928/NEWS01/709280450/1004

KEANSBURG — A state recommendation to intensify the cleanup of 13

mold-infested classroom trailers means it will take months longer

than originally anticipated for the district's 239 preschoolers to

stop spending half their school day inside a gymnasium.

Officials from the state School Development Authority inspected the

trailers outside Port Monmouth Road School earlier this month, said

Manoes, president of the Keansburg Board of Education.

Rather than simply replace the parts of the trailers with mold on

them, as Keansburg had begun to do in recent days, the state wants

to replace the trailers' entire floors, walls and plumbing fixtures,

said Larry Hanover, an SDA spokesman.

SDA, which plans to hold a pre-bid meeting on the project on Monday,

also wants to hire engineers to develop solutions for preventing the

mold problem from recurring, Hanover said.

" We're going to work with the district to get the kids back into

their classrooms as soon as possible, " Hanover said.

The expanded project is expected to begin in November and be

complete by January, Hanover said.

But Manoes cautioned that the project, estimated to cost at least

$200,000, could take as long as April to complete. At the beginning

of the academic year, which was delayed by two school days as

Keansburg struggled to deal with the problem, district officials

predicted students might attend classes inside the trailers within

several weeks.

" Until those classrooms have been completely eradicated of mold,

we're not going to allow any students to go in them, " Manoes said.

All of the district's preschoolers are attending half-day sessions

at the ph C. Caruso School. The students are spending half the

day inside a classroom and half the day in the school's gymnasium.

Physical education classes for the preschool and Caruso students are

being held outside the school, but Manoes said that will prove

difficult as the weather cools.

" People talk about children being overweight, " Manoes said. " This is

certainly not going to help. "

Tests in August of the air inside, under and immediately outside the

trailers found higher than normal amounts of mold, district

consultants have said.

The mold grew because of water leaks inside the trailers and because

the structures are located on top of a recessed area where rainwater

pools and leaves from nearby trees collect.

The dying leaves attract microscopic mushrooms that generate spores

that can cause allergic reactions in some people, the consultants

have said.

Penton: (732) 888-2617 or kpenton@...