Building for -Clyde studentscould have mold problem, lab finds

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Building for -Clyde studentscould have mold problem, lab finds

BY DIETTE COURRÉGÉ

The Post and Courier

ton Post Courier - ton,SC

http://www.charleston.net/stories/?newsID=90941 & section=localnews

A lab report paid for by a downtown constituent school board member

shows potentially toxic mold growing inside the Archer school

building, but the district superintendent promised Wednesday to have

the issue resolved before students occupy the facility.

Henry Copeland used $240 of his own money for the Center for Indoor

Air Research at Texas Tech University to analyze six swabs of mold

from the building where -Clyde Elementary School students

will move next school year while their new school is built.

Copeland commissioned the study because the ton County School

District didn't, even after the constituent board formally requested

one; and he and the constituent board members wanted to ensure the

building's safety, he said.

ton County schools Superintendent Goodloe- said

the report didn't give district employees any information they

didn't already know, but she hadn't seen the report obtained by

Copeland.

She said Copeland is trying to derail the new building project, but

that she isn't going to let him. Copeland said that isn't true, and

that it was irresponsible for the district not to have done the

report.

The school district has renovated the vacant Archer school building

for the last three years, and the work included replacing part of

the roof where water leaked.

Straus, a microbiology professor who oversees the Texas lab

that tested the Archer samples, said he suspected the building had

water damage. The most dangerous toxic mold that was found in two

samples from Archer isn't normally found in buildings unless it's

growing somewhere, and the water-damaged areas of the building need

to be rechecked, he said. He said the type of mold found can kill

animals in certain doses, and it's not one he'd want in a building

where people lived or worked.

Straus, who doesn't know Copeland and has never seen the Archer

building, recommended further investigation of the facility to

determine the seriousness of the mold problem.

" Not to do it would be foolish on their part, " Straus said.

Straus said he couldn't tell from the samples whether the mold was

producing toxins, and if it was, whether the building contained a

dangerous amount of toxins. Copeland wasn't trained in collecting

the samples, and he could have missed swabbing key areas where mold

was growing, Straus said.

In addition, the lab analyzed only swabbed surface samples but not

the air, so he said he doesn't know what's in the air at the school.

The lab report indicates problems exit but doesn't mean the building

is unsafe, he said.

The school district typically tests school buildings for mold if

people see signs of growth or if people complain about health

problems linked to mold. ton Progressive Elementary School

students temporarily occupied the Archer building before this year,

and no one complained of such problems, said Mark Cobb, executive

director of facility services for the school district.

The lab report comes as the latest in a string of battles involving

-Clyde, a longtime failing school that has shown great

academic promise the last two years. The constituent board first

opposed -Clyde students moving temporarily to the Archer

building because they weren't guaranteed a new school building. That

issue was resolved when the county school board decided to add a new

-Clyde school to the current building program.

Residents and parents also have argued the Archer building is too

small, and is unsafe and lacks sufficient technology infrastructure.

But they want students to remain together while the new school is

built. The only alternative to moving students to the Archer school

building is for -Clyde students to be dispersed among

downtown schools, and that's an option the school principal and the

PTA president said they didn't want.

" We've worked too hard to keep this family together, " said school

Principal Mia . " No one wants to move, but how are we

going to get a new school if we don't? "

Cobb said the building would be tested for mold before students

moved into it next school year, but he would have to wait until mid-

July, when the remaining renovations are scheduled to finish, before

doing those tests.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@....