Belfry school mold free officials say

October 29, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

on Daily News - on,WV*

JULIA R. GOAD

Staff Writer

3880b29552098590.txt

Officials from the Pike County Board of Education and the county's

Health Department both say Belfry Middle School does not have a mold

problem.

A parent raised concerns earlier in the week about the issue. The

parent contacted the board after their child, a student at the

school, displayed what they felt were mold-related symptoms. The

school and the Board took immediate action.

Jim Blankenship, maintenance supervisor with the BOE, and

Helvey,

environmentalist with the health department, inspected the building

Tuesday. Both say they saw nothing to indicate a health hazard.

" I saw nothing that would lead me to believe there was a problem, "

Helvey said. " There was no cause for alarm. The room had been

painted recently, and was very clean. "

" We will bring in a de-humidifier, " Blankenship said.

" And [we] will clean the walls with a bleach solution, as well as a

spray to kill any mold that may be in the air, " he said, but that

was simply a precautionary measure. " We looked everywhere, even on

top of the light fixtures, and all we saw was a small amount of

dust. "

The school was renovated four years ago, when the new Belfry High

School was built and the old BHS became Belfry Middle.

Matt Mercer, vice principal at BMS, said school staff would conduct

a thorough cleaning.

" Since a parent has concerns, we will clean the rooms that were an

area of concern, " Mercer said. " We have been working on the

building. We feel really good about it, and about the fact that the

inspection declared the building 100 percent free from mold. "

Recommended Posts