Mold invades some Highland classrooms

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Mold invades some Highland classrooms

STARLA JONES

HOBBS NEWS-SUN

Higland Junior High School Algebra teacher, Jeff Bowman, picks at the mold

Thursday that is overtaking his classroom.

There's mold growing at Highland Junior High School, but not the furry kind

that shows up inside a science lab petri dish.

No, this is a creamy white version that's spawned by excessive moisture and

creeps through cracks in the building, then spreads to interior carpeting

and walls.

The invasion was serious enough -- particularly from an olfactory

standpoint -- to close off an English classroom nearly two weeks ago.

" Mostly it was the odor that caused the problem, " Assistant Superintendent

Bruce Hardison said Thursday of conditions that led maintenance personnel to

construct a false wall, install fans and steam clean carpets in the room.

" It should be back to business by Monday. "

But not before Honeywell conducts air-quality checks in the building and

runs tests on water samples from swamp coolers to ensure that any spores

produced by the mold do not pose a health hazard, Hardison said.

In some cases, mold and mildew can irritate the lungs of people with

allergies, asthma or other respiratory problems, according to a Web site on

the increasingly well-publicized topic. And some specific brands of fungi

can cause skin and eye irritations and infections as well as damage to the

cornea, respiratory tract, stomach, intestines and skin.

" We don't see any problems like that associated with this, " Hardison

cautioned, pointing out that there's been no increase in absenteeism at the

school or complaints of breathing problems.

Mold growth in local schools isn't a new phenomenon, he added.

College Lane and Stone elementary schools also experienced mold problems

until the maintenance department eliminated berms at the schools. A

classroom at Coronado Elementary School, located across the street from

Highland, will have to be rebricked because of an infestation.

And the district also commissioned an air-quality study and water analysis

at Elementary when staff complained of illnesses shortly after a

prime-time television broadcast detailed the danger of mold growth found in

some California homes.

The results of the study are not yet available, Hardison said

yesterday.

In the meantime, the mold problem at Highland, according to the

administrator, can be traced to a 43-year-old building that has contracted

and shifted over the past four decades.

Because the settling has caused Highland to lose its water tightness,

sprinklers that watered the lawn as well as the building resulted in " water

going down to the base of the wall and base of the carpet, " Hardison said

" Water also has a capillary activity where small amounts of it will climb up

a wall. "

And where there's water, particularly in humid conditions, there's mold.

To fix the problem, staff have cleaned classroom walls with bleach water,

installed a concrete runway along the exterior of the building to keep water

out and repositioned the sprinkler heads.

Further plans for this summer include resealing the junior high school's

exterior walls.

" We believe we have found the source, " Hardison said of a growth he is

confident will be eradicated.