School Mold No More

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School Mold No More

Thursday, July 24, 2008

WTRF - Wheeling,WV*

Officials track down the problem and rid the school.

Story by Jim Forbes

MORRISTOWN, OHIO -- Some students and teachers in one local school

district have complained about health problems and now the source

has been identified; mold. But that's all been cleaned up after the

Board of Education in the Union Local School District took a pro-

active approach and took care of the problem.

The Union Local Elementary School was built back in 1997. Since that

time, water has been seeping into some of the cinder blocks in one

wing of the school. Inside A-17 sits the music room, where many of

the problems were being reported.

" Children would have running eyes, watering eyes, noses, and often

times I felt even numbness in my face but it sounds like this board

is getting to the problems for us. "

Superintendent Kirk Glasgow, once a teacher himself for more than

20years, immediately took action and called in an environmental

consultant to investigate the situation.

" There was a moisture problem that was found within one of the

exterior walls causing condensation and some wicking of moisture

into the wall cavity. That created an environment for fungal

examination to grow within the wall but it was very minimal, " said

Gongola, an environmental consultant.

Once the environmental assessment was conducted, Panhandle Cleaning

and Restoration was hired to do the remediation, which was completed

on Tuesday.

The cost of the evaluation and the cleanup was around $200,000.

" That's just based on years of construction experience. We're

prepared to do whatever it takes to get this taken care of and it

feels good in a sense to finally know exactly what's causing our

problem, " said Glasgow.

As a result of their pro-active action, the Board is receiving

praise from the teachers at Union Local Elementary.

" We kind of felt that this time the board is going to find out what

the problem is and let's fix it and that's really nice to know as a

workforce and that we're being taken care of. Our safety and the

safety of the children seem to come first. If it's expensive, you

have to take care of it. It's the safety of the building, " said

Wells, Union Local Teacher's Union President.

Eventually, a sealant will be applied to all the cinder blocks to

prevent any future leaking. On August 13th, the Board will conduct a

meeting for all interested parents to answer their questions

concerning the mold cleanup at the school.

That meeting begins at 6:30 at the Union Local Elementary School.