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This Bath, PA school district will now cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, reconstructing and remediating a school building that has had longtime complaints of dampness, mold, and illness, despite air quality tests that showed no problem, year after year. Their "experts" couldn't locate the problem - not till walls were removed and the mold was seen. This is a prime example of how unreliable district testing is.
Mold damage in millionsGeorge Wolf Elementary students to remain in offsite classrooms while district fixes problem.
http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/news-16/1209269119276280.xml&coll=2
Sunday, April 27, 2008
By JD Malone
The Express-Times
BATH | Colonies of toxic mold at George Wolf Elementary school will push about 300 students into offsite classrooms next year and cost several million dollars to fix.
Northampton Area School District Superintendent Linda Firestone said students who have been relocated to other facilities this year will continue to learn offsite. Students now attend St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, John Siegfried Elementary and Mary Immaculate Seminary.
School board member and facilities committee Chairman David Gogel said a single building not owned by the district has been found to provide classrooms for next year. He declined to name it.
Gogel said the mold at the school -- found in several places behind walls in the section of the school built in 1967 -- will be cleaned after the school year ends in June.
He said the project requires extensive demolition, new cinder block walls, a revamped heating and air conditioning system and special anti-microbial paint. He pegged the cost at $3 million to $4 million dollars.
The mold was found in a bathroom on April 7 when workers tore through a wall. Subsequent inspections turned up more mold in the building. The other wings of the school, built in 1973, are mold-free according to Firestone.
The 1967 section is sealed off and remains off limits to the 400 or so students still at the school.
The school has long been plagued by a musty odor and complaints from some students and teachers that the air hurt their eyes and throats.
"We've been chasing and looking for this problem for a long time," Gogel said. "We've done indoor and outdoor air testing. Even the experts couldn't tell us what was creating the problem."
The Pennsylvania Department of Health studied the school in March and found the indoor air quality to be within accepted levels, but warned that some people are sensitive to irritants.
Industrial hygienist Judith Gostin said ongoing construction activities at the school create dust and odors that bother children and adults. Firestone said officials have yet to link the mold to the old longtime odor or any illnesses.
"We are doing regular air quality testing, working with the EPA and the Department of Health," Firestone said, noting that officials did not demand a depopulation of the school.
Gogel said the situation has been hard on parents and students, but that the district has done the right thing.
"Is it a pretty picture?" Gogel asked. "No, but you gotta do what you gotta do."
Reporter JD Malone can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at
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