Mold found at North Garnerville Elementary

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Mold found at North Garnerville Elementary

By RANDI WEINER

rweiner@...

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: February 17, 2006)

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20060217/NEWS03/602170372/1027/NEWS11

Westchester,NY

GARNERVILLE — Students in four classrooms at North Garnerville

Elementary School were moved into rooms away from their corridor

yesterday after air-quality experts found higher-than-normal mold

concentrations in the area.

Parents were alerted by e-mail and a letter home with their children

that tests done Tuesday showed concentrations of stachybotrys and

aspergillus-penicillium molds were discovered in the air outside the

wing, which is near where the administration has its offices.

Children and staff were moved out — half Tuesday, when the testing

was conducted, and half yesterday, when the mold contamination was

confirmed — and the area blocked off. Remediation and retesting will

be done next week when students are off for the February break.

North Garnerville Elementary was built in 1960 and has been

renovated twice, most recently in 1988.

" For a number of months, we've had a few employees with ongoing

health issues who questioned whether it could be related to

conditions in the building, " said Monahan, deputy

superintendent of North Rockland schools.

Monahan and Keenan, president of the Board of Education, met

with teachers Monday about their concerns, and called in Indoor Air

Care to test the air Tuesday.

" We have done testing there (in the past) and found nothing that

confirmed such a relationship, but we're obviously taking it

seriously, " Monahan said.

Keenan told Monahan to order whatever testing was necessary and not

to be concerned about cost.

" Last night, we got the results on that area of the building and

they identified elevated levels of mold spores, " Monahan said

yesterday. " We closed off that area of the building, moved teachers

and kids elsewhere in the building. Over the holiday break, we will

be testing the entire building and dealing with any situation that

arises and if anything is found, we'll remediate that. "

The one-story school holds about 320 students from kindergarten

through fourth grade. The affected area is near the library. The

evacuation involved four small classrooms holding a total of about

25 children.

Monahan said the apparent source of the mold spores was an area in

the ceiling that had a leaking valve that had once been repaired.

The deputy superintendent said that any necessary repair and

remediation work should be completed before school resumes in late

February and that there was no estimate on cost — adding that cost

would not be a factor in getting repairs done.

" As a result of this, we're looking at what other testing we need to

do at other buildings, " he said.