Day care kids moved after mold discovered

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Day care kids moved after mold discovered

Asbury Park Press - Asbury Park,NJ*

By Kim Predham • FREEHOLD BUREAU •

April 11, 2008

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NEWS/804110513

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — A day care center at CentraState Medical Center

had to be evacuated Thursday after test results indicated the

presence of mold in classrooms.

Children at the Bright Horizons at CentraState Early Childhood

Center were moved to an auditorium in the main hospital building on

Route 537.

" We have no reason to suspect there has been any adverse health

impact to any client, guest or staff member at the day care center, "

CentraState spokeswoman Crotts said in an e-mail.

Mold was initially discovered on interior surfaces of an outside

wall in two classrooms on March 29 by workers during a wallpapering

project. The rooms house prekindergarten and kindergarten classes,

Crotts said.

Use of the rooms was immediately discontinued and they were closed

off, along with the heating, ventilating and air conditioning system

serving them, Crotts said.

Parents of all 75 enrolled children were notified, and classes for

the 22 children who had been using the two rooms were transferred to

a conference room in CentraState's Star and Barry Tobias Ambulatory

Campus, Crotts said.

Students have been escorted to that location by day care center

staff and CentraState security guards, Crotts said. CentraState also

provided its senior services bus for use.

Once the initial mold was found, the wallpapering project was

stopped and an air quality study was begun, Crotts said. Since then,

CentraState officials have been receiving regular reports on the

situation.

On Thursday, officials were notified that mold had also been found

in rooms next to the initial two classrooms, Crotts said. She did

not know which rooms.

Officials closed the day care center Thursday afternoon, moved

children into the main building and notified the state Health

Department, Crotts said.

" We're still continuing our testing and evaluating the situation, "

Crotts said.

The Bright Horizons facility, one of 600 the company runs schools

globally, is a 21-year-old, one-story building with six classrooms.

It is used by hospital personnel and is also open to the general

public.

CentraState is looking into further arrangements, both short-term

and long-term, for providing child care services to clients, Crotts

said.

Tricia Barr, who said she has two children enrolled in the center,

said Thursday that officials had been very responsive to parents.

However, she said she was concerned that she still hadn't heard a

plan for the facility going forward, nor been told the type of mold

found and its possible effects.

She may get answers to her questions today. A meeting with parents

has been scheduled for 6 p.m. at CentraState's Ambulatory Campus,

Barr said.

Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@...