Norwin officials: Schools safe to open after mold remediation

Classes at Norwin will begin Wednesday as scheduled as the district has been working to remediate mold problems discovered at Norwin High School, the Knights Stadium and other buildings in the district, the school superintendent said.

Superintendent Natalie McCracken told the school board this week that the facilities are ready to be used by students and staff and summer maintenance issues will have no impact on the start of school.

“We have currently tested all spaces and are awaiting results for one classroom at Sheridan Terrace and one storage/planning space at the high school. All other school buildings have been fully cleared. There was no mold found in Sunset Valley, Stewartsville or Hahntown” elementary schools, McCracken said Friday.

“The information changes daily and even throughout the day, so providing general communication is not possible nor would it be accurate,” McCracken said.

McCracken said Friday she would provide the school board with an update at its meeting Monday.

The return of the students to the buildings Wednesday might help to alleviate future mold problems, McCracken said.

“Having people back in the buildings is what helps them (structures) function as they were designed to function,” the superintendent said.

The mold has been caused this summer by the high temperatures, high humidity and rain, McCracken said.

Norwin has been focusing on remediation and hired Belfor, a property restoration service, to work on the remediation in coordination with the district’s maintenance staff, McCracken said. The company removed the moldy areas, cleaned the impacted surfaces and took measures to protect against future growth. The company treated spaces, tested for mold, did follow-up treatments, monitored and responded if more work was needed, according to the superintendent.

A clogged condensate pipe in the high school library caused water damage and mold over a weekend in late July, McCracken said. Contaminated materials were removed.

That remediation project will require that the library be closed when school starts next week. It will be remodeled to fit the changing needs of the students, McCracken said.

Mold also was found in a classroom at the Sheridan Terrace Elementary School and an unused storage space at the high school, McCracken said.

Because of the recent discovery of possibly more mold found at the Knights Stadium, the Norwin Football Boosters announced on its website Aug. 13 that the school district immediately closed the press box side of the stadium and began mold remediation.

The mold found in the buildings is known as aspergillus, a common type which can cause lung problems for some people who breathe the spores, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. People with weakened immune systems or lung diseases are most at risk, but most people do not get sick from aspergillus, the CDC said.

The school district will pay for the cleaning of any mold damage to soccer uniforms and uniforms worn by the members of the Air Force Junior Reserve Corps, said school director Bill Bojalad, board president. If there is any doubt about the removal of the mold by the cleaning service, Bojalad said the school district would replace those uniforms.

Director Alex Detschelt, a frequent administration critic, said in an email statement he believes that there has been water intrusion for years and the walls and ceiling tiles have shown the damage through the years.

“Kids have seen the mold throughout prior years and different rooms have different smells, assumingly due to the amount of mold. The issue now is that the mold has become pervasive to the point that simply having custodians spray it with a bleach and scent solution won’t cut it,” Detschelt said in a statement.

Regarding the mold at Knights Stadium, Detschelt said there has been mold at that sports facility for years and he has seen it at the ground level.

McCracken criticized those who posted statements on social media starting a rumor or speculating that there was black mold in Norwin “without ever asking a question to confirm that statement.”