Mould woes send students to arena for classes

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Mould woes send students to arena for classes

Last Updated: Monday, December 18, 2006 | 5:07 PM NT

CBC News Newfoundland & Labrador - St. 's,Newfoundland,Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-

labrador/story/2006/12/18/mould-arena.html

Teachers in Corner Brook will be using part of a sports arena for

temporary classrooms, as crews begin renovation on the latest

Newfoundland and Labrador school to be affected by mould.

Presentation Junior High School, which was closed last week for air-

quality tests, will remain closed for as long as five weeks to deal

with mould, officials said Monday.

Ross Elliott, education director with the Western School District,

said the air-quality tests were conclusive.

" Some wood in the building has become either rotten, affected by

mould or is moist and therefore susceptible to future mould growth —

that wood has to be removed, " Elliott said Monday.

" If the contractors are removing wood, then it has to be replaced

and finished and painted. "

The school's 391 students will resume classes in January at the

Pepsi Centre.

Meeting spaces at the arena are being converted into temporary

classrooms.

Students are being asked to return to Presentation Junior High on

Tuesday solely to remove personal items.

The school is the third in Newfoundland and Labrador to close

because of mould.

Paradise Elementary, in the suburban St. 's-area town of

Paradise, closed indefinitely in November. Repairs were subsequently

halted because of a pending school board debate on building a new

school.

Another Corner Brook school, Humber Elementary, closed indefinitely

in early December.