Study delays Moss decision

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Study delays Moss decision

Several board members say they want to move ahead with closure

The Daily Advertiser - Lafayette,LA*

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The final decision to temporarily close N.P. Moss Middle School to

assess and repair wall system failure is slated to come in less than

a week as board members wait for the completion of an independent

study.

A meeting was planned for early this week until parents decided to

pursue an independent study to ensure the veracity of the school

system officials' claims that the school would need to close for as

long as a semester because of problems with the school's walls that

are harboring moisture.

The closure will send eighth-graders to Northside High School and

sixth- and seventh-graders to Good Hope Baptist Church. School

officials said there are no estimates on how long the project could

take or how much it could cost because determining the problem

requires removing wall panels. No date has been set for a special

board meeting to act on Super-intendent Burnell Lemoine's plans to

close the school after the holiday break.

Board members Hunter Beasley, Ed Sam and president Carl LaCombe said

they want to see the results of an independent study.

Board member Greg Awbrey said despite the backlash that came at a

Thursday night meeting with parents, he'll vote to temporarily close

the campus.

" I think that we have to do what we feel is in the best interest of

the students and the parents and the school system and live with the

criticism, " Awbrey said.

That criticism was strong when the news came out about the school's

closure last week from parents who say there is another motive for

closing the campus - to turn it into another school. Board members

have denied that is the case.

Awbrey said the actions at N.P. Moss came after a similar situation

less than a year ago at Plantation Elementary School on Kaliste

Saloom Road. At Plantation, mold was found in two rooms and parents

pleaded with the district to close the doors until they knew it was

safe for students.

'You have two situations where the board has gone two completely

different directions, " Awbrey said.

He said the board was lambasted for their decision not to

immediately close Plantation last spring and system officials wanted

to be preemptive in the Moss case. In the Plantation case, mold

accumulated in two rooms because of a leak. The leak was repaired

and products contaminated were replaced. There is no leak at Moss.

The problem at Moss is far more complex, according to officials who

say it could require removing the brick from the outer walls because

there is something wrong with the layers of wall.

" They decide to close the school and they get hammered for it, "

Awbrey said. " They've taken two different approaches. Both

decisions, in the view of the public, from the school was wrong. "

LaCombe said the problems within the walls of N.P. Moss may require

that students leave because the walls could be harboring mold -

according to air samples taken on campus there is no mold in the

air. But, if the walls are removed - which is likely necessary in

order to evaluate the problems within the wall system - and they

contain mold it can become airborne.

" What we were looking at were the heath risks with those walls being

open up, " LaCombe said. " If it can be done any other way so that no

child is put at risk at all. I'm just not going to put a child's

health at risk. If there's potential, I'll just have to err on the

side of caution. "

Board member Rae Trahan, who said she plans to vote to temporarily

close the campus, said the feelings from parents are based on the

history of the school system and other schools that have been shut

down, particularly those that serve a majority black student

population. Several schools that had been traditionally black were

closed through desegregation efforts in the last several decades.

Moss remains a majority-minority school.

" You have to know the history the community has gone through with

their schools, " Trahan said. " This is the only one they have left. "

Board member Mark Cockerham said he supports a temporary closure of

the campus.

" We need to fix the problem, " he said. " Absolutely I support it. We

definitely need to stop it, to see what's going on. "