Mold discovered in Florence school, letter sent to parents

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Mold discovered in Florence school, letter sent to parents

AZFamily - Phoenix,AZ*

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/stories/Florence-local-news-

101508-school-mold-problems.1173ad970.html

Florence Unified School District No. 1

The following news release was sent by the Superintendent of the

Florence Unified School District No. 1:

The Issue

On August 25, 2008, it was first reported to the Facilities

Administrator that there might be visible mold in a classroom at

Butte. The teacher and students were immediately relocated

to another classroom. The affected room and the adjacent empty

classroom were sealed and all ventilation was isolated from the rest

of the school. The Pinal County Environmental Health Department was

contacted and confirmed that we had taken appropriate actions. The

Extreme Water Damage and Restoration Company and the District's

insurance carrier, the Arizona School Risk Retention Trust, both

assured us that isolating the areas was appropriate to prevent

overexposure to students or staff.

MGNonline

Remediation of the area was scheduled for August 30; however, the

Trust asked us to postpone that appointment and utilize one of their

vendors. The Trust's vendor tested the isolated area on September

12, to confirm the presence of mold. The Trust scheduled

remediation for the isolated area for the week of September 22,

2008. The day before work was scheduled to begin, the District was

informed by the Trust that we had exceeded our $25,000 liability for

this particular site because of a mold related work problem in

2004. Consequently, it was necessary to reschedule remediation with

the original testers, Extreme Water Damage and Restoration. On

September 26, affected drywall and insulation in the identified area

was removed and the areas were cleaned, scrubbed, and sanitized.

The rooms remained sealed for monitoring.

On Friday morning, October 10, 2008, follow up tests resulted in

readings that indicated the possibility that mold was still present;

therefore, we began looking for an additional mold source. All

classrooms and ventilation systems at Butte grade 3-8 campus

were tested over the past weekend, October 11 and 12. Additionally,

although there has been NO indication of mold at Butte K-2

campus, as a pre-caution, a sample of classrooms in the Pre-K areas,

the portables and the original classroom buildings were tested

also. Those results have been received and they are comparable to

outside air which is acceptable.

Based on obtained air sample results, and visual assessment, our

contracted environmental professionals, , Seif, , Inc.,

have advised us to maintain school in session at Butte

K-8 and have provided a plan for investigation, remediation as

needed, and re-construction as necessary.