|
Bath, PA: School mold saga continues |
|
|
|
|
Mold removal contract OK'd for Bath school
George Wolf project will cost $378,000. Funding is undecided.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b3_4mold-r.6496290jul09,0,1847609.story
By Steve Esack | Of The Morning Call
July 9, 2008
The battle to rid Bath's George Wolf Elementary School of mold continues.
The Northampton Area School Board on Monday approved a $378,224 contract with Sargent Enterprises of Jim Thorpe to remove the mold from a section of the school that dates to 1967. Now, the board just has to figure out how it will pay for the contract.
''At this point in time the board has not decided where that money will come from,'' Superintendent Linda Firestone said Tuesday. ''We have some bond money we could utilize.''
Board Vice President Jean Rundle said she expects Firestone and her staff to recommend at the next meeting where the money should come from.
''I myself am not sure,'' Rundle said. ''But everything is under contract.''
After years of student and teacher complaints about respiratory problems in George Wolf, a construction crew working on the school's ongoing renovations discovered black mold growing inside the drywall of a boys' bathroom April 7.
''They have not been able to determine the exact reason why or when it began,'' Firestone said.
The discovery forced the district to close the school at 300 Allen St. Students and staff are being moved to the Bethlehem Area School District's former Northeast Middle School at Pembroke Road and Fernwood Street in Bethlehem. Northampton is paying $2,000 a month in rent to the district to use the facility in the coming school year.
Firestone said George Wolf's administration moved its office equipment into Northeast on June 23. She said her staff members estimate they will be moved into the school by Aug. 1.
Firestone said contractors expect the mold removal at George Wolf will be completed by the end of August. Reconstruction will then start Sept. 1.
The first day of school is Sept. 2.
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
610-861-3619
|