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Watch several news videos and read the newspaper articles, about George Wolf Elementary, in Bath, PA, with portions of a school building that must close due to mold.
This school has a long history of Indoor Air Quality problems. The school had a "mystery smell" complained about for years, and not recognized, even with years of air quality tests.
We fail to be surprised, at SMH, because district tests are very often poorly conducted or worse, bogus. Read District Testing article on our About Testing page for more info.
The next mistake this district may make is to attempt to solve the school mold problems with construction and improper (or no) remediation methods that stir up the mold and don't get rid of all contaminated objects or clean the air. For how they should do it, go to our Remediation page (SMH).
Black Mold May Close School Until 2009
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15902375/detail.html
POSTED: 4:52 pm EDT April 16, 2008
UPDATED: 7:23 pm EDT April 16, 2008
A hazardous health problem shut down a school in the Northampton Area School District.
Video Report
http://video.nbc10.com/player/?id=240999
Black mold growing in the boy's bathroom at George Wolf Elementary School located in Bath, Northampton County, is the potential source of serious air quality concerns.
Administrators are scrambling to find space for the rest of the school year.
The mold issue is nothing new and even administrators admit that for years students and staffers have complained about a musty odor in the building and symptoms ranging anywhere from itching eyes to rashes and trouble breathing.
Within the walls of the school lurks a potentially dangerous substance that administrators said may be making students and teachers sick.
"It just creeps me out," Lauren Yobe, a student, said.
Construction workers found black mold last week while tearing down walls during renovations. Most of the building is closed and classes were suspended for the rest of the week.
"Both my children have allergies to mold and I have been fighting with the school for two years," Heather Smith, a parent, said.
Smith said she told the district she was concerned there was mold after her youngest son, Logan, starting coming home from school with rashes and was having trouble breathing.
"He had exezma so bad the doctor pulled him out of school. It cleared up at home in three days but when he went back to school it started all over again," Smith said.
Her older son, Hunter, said he's had problems breathing and concentrating in class.
"It really stresses me to have to go through all this," Hunter Smith said.
"There was one teacher last year that took an early retirement because she couldn't take it, so its been an ongoing problem," Heather Smith
District officials agree.
"We've had air quality tests. We had the Department of Labor, Department of Health and we've never had anyone say that building should be evacuated," Superintendent Dr. Linda Firestone said.
Firestone said even now experts said the mold found poses no immediate threat. Still they believe the mold may have grown to other parts of the building and they've hired a company to come in to gut part of the school to get rid of the mold.
The district is working on plans on where to place its students for the reminder of the year. They'll make that announcement at a meeting Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Northampton High School cafeteria.
They said the work to clean up the mold could take the rest of the year with majority of students unable to come back to George Wolf Elementary until sometime in 2009.
Copyright 2008 by NBC10.com. All rights reserved.
(SMH Note: your helpful comments may be left after this news story, at the URL above)
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POSTED: 04-14-2008 07:08 PM ET | MODIFIED: 04-14-2008 07:08 PM ET
Local Elementary School Closing to Address Mold Problem
Click to view video News Story: http://wfmz.com/view/?id=251841
A local elementary school is closing its doors because of a mold problem. Officials at George Wolf Elementary School in Northampton County say mold has been found within the construction area of the school. Air quality tests have been done. Officials say there is no immediate need to move students.
But they are closing the school Wednesday through Friday to address the issue. There will also be a town meeting this Thursday at 6:30 in the Northampton Area High School gym.
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Northampton Area must relocate George Wolf students due to mold
http://blog.pennlive.com/lvbreakingnews/2008/04/george_wolf_elementary_school.html
Bath, PA
Posted by Associated Press April 15, 2008 12:30PM
Northampton Area School District officials say a large part of George Wolf Elementary School in Bath is closing so crews can clean up black mold found in the boy's bathroom. The school has a history of air quality complaints.
Superintendent Linda Firestone said attendance was optional today, and classes are canceled Wednesday through Friday. District officials are looking for extra space in schools in other districts and in area churches where up to five grades can hold classes for the rest of the year. Second- and fourth-graders might be able to stay in their classrooms, which are in a new wing. A meeting is scheduled with parents 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the high school gymnasium.
Nazareth Area High School closed in 1997 to clean up a fungus called stachybotrys chartarum fungus. The $4 million, months-long remediation effort required high school and middle school students to shared the attached middle school, holding half-day class schedules. Employees and students had reported sinus problems, asthma, skin rashes and fatigue, termed building-related illness by the district's environmental physician.
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Read about the chalky odor that the school had for years.....and the IAQ tests that never detected mold!
School overhaul may end 'the smell' The chalky odor has annoyed George Wolf Elementary for 2 years.
Allentown Morning Call - Allentown,PA*
By Michael Duck | Of The Morning Call
January 17, 2008
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allb1_4gwolf.6228849jan17,0,5987874.s
tory
They call it ''the smell'' -- a chalky, musty, damp odor at George
Wolf Elementary in Bath that seems to make some teachers and
students sick.
Despite years of air-quality tests and input from dozens of experts,
the smell's source is still a mystery to school officials.
Ripping up the school's old carpet in 2006 didn't solve the problem,
so officials have made plans to tear out old ductwork and much of
the school's air-conditioning system during a $17.19 million
renovation and expansion of the school.
But officials won't know for months whether that work will eliminate
the odor, or if the work will have been a diversion costing hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
''I guess you just hope that we're doing everything that we could
possibly do,'' Principal Michael Monaghan said, adding
that ''everyone has their opinion'' about the smell's source.
Math teacher Margaret Leibenguth said the smell forced her into an
early retirement last year.
''I was so nauseous, my eyes were burning, my throat was burning, my
ears were closing -- this was every single day,'' said Leibenguth,
whose symptoms started in 2006 after 20 years teaching at the school.
Leibenguth said her doctors diagnosed her with ''sick building
syndrome'' but never figured out exactly what caused her symptoms.
Some teachers and students reported rashes, headaches or sinus
infections, but Monaghan stressed that others have had much milder
symptoms or none at all. Student attendance rates haven't changed
noticeably from year to year, Monaghan said.
Noting that the smell seems to be worst during warm weather,
officials now say the school's air conditioning system is the most
likely culprit.
The system's ventilation ducts were built with insulation inside,
which might be starting to deteriorate. Monaghan said he spoke with
an expert at a national indoor air quality symposium in December who
agreed that replacing the ducts might help.
In addition, the Northampton Area School Board decided Monday to
replace the system's air-handling units.
All that work is now part of the school's $17.19 million renovation,
which will add 21,000 square feet of classroom space to keep up with
the school's growing student population. Engineers and district
officials agreed the best time to overhaul the air conditioning
would be while other contractors build a new gym, cafeteria and
classrooms.
More than a year before renovations began in September, other air-
quality experts suspected mold was the problem and recommended
getting rid of the building's wall-to-wall carpeting, which was
nearly worn out.
Instead, complaints about the air increased after the carpet was
pulled up. ''I can't explain that spike in the complaints,''
Monaghan said.
Because some teachers worried that concrete dust from the newly bare
floors was making the smell worse, the concrete was treated twice
with sealer, Monaghan said. Speculation about gases seeping up
through cracks in the concrete led to more tests, but they were
inconclusive.
''We've done a million things here, trying to eliminate all the
possibilities,'' said Bob Yanders, Northampton Area School
District's director of operations.
He ticked off a list of other preventive measures that haven't fixed
the problem: testing for mold and bacteria, cleaning the air-
handling units, installing air filters that use ultraviolet light to
kill germs and even testing the rocks on the roof.
As for the latest proposed solution, officials will have to wait
until construction ends next year to find out if the new air
conditioning system finally kills the smell.
''[We're] just looking forward to the renovations and construction
project to hopefully put an end to all this,'' Monaghan said.
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