Mold worry prompts moving of 4 s classes

October 24, 2006

By The Patriot Ledger staff

southofboston.com

HULL - Four modular classrooms at the Lillian M. s Elementary

School have been temporarily closed for environmental testing.

The testing, by Oasis Environmental Services of Cohasset, was done

Friday and Saturday as a precaution, interim Principal Joyal

said last night. Test results are expected today or tomorrow, he

said.

Oasis Environmental did testing after mold was discovered in rooms

at the Harbor View Road school this summer. The ensuing cleanup

delayed last month's opening of the s School by a few days.

The four fifth-grade classes housed in the modular rooms have been

moved into the school building for now, Joyal said. Three were moved

into rooms that had been vacated in preparation for being turned

over at Thanksgiving to the general contractor for the school

addition-renovation project; the other was moved into the school

library.

The recent testing was ordered after a teacher reported finding what

appeared to be mold in her classroom, Joyal said.

Oasis Environmental tested for airborne and surface mold and, in the

two modular classrooms that face the ocean side of the school, for

any evidence of a moisture problem, Joyal said.

He said damp wall insulation found in the classroom of the teacher

who reported finding apparent mold will be replaced.

Because of complaints about a chemical smell coming from the modular

unit that contains student and adult lavatories and two small

offices, Oasis also is trying to determine the smell's cause, Joyal

said

Teacher Debbie McCarthy said last night she brought her suspicions

about possible black mold to the attention of the school

administration.

McCarthy, who also is president of the Hull Teachers Association,

said she noticed a small wet, black spot on her classroom carpet

Friday afternoon. When a vinyl strip running along the bottom of a

wall was pulled back, black splotches were revealed, she said.

McCarthy said she found similar black splotches behind a vinyl strip

in an adjacent modular classroom.

Joyal said school officials decided Sunday to move the fifth-grade

classes.

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