Mold issue being addressed at SJO

A mold issue in St. Joseph-Ogden High School is being addressed.

Superintendent Brian Brooks said the mold was discovered last week. 

A teacher reported to Principal Gary Page that there appeared to be mold growing on a desk. 

Brooks and Page examined the wing and found a few issues of concern.

Brooks told the Board of Education that over the summer no one on the administration noticed temperature or humidity issues in that part of the school. Last Monday was the first time Brooks said it seemed warm in that area.

“Last Tuesday (August 12) was very warm, to be honest,” Brooks said.

Testing was scheduled for August 15th and on August 16th the district was alerted that some areas in the south wing tested positive for mold.  

The type of mold was Penicillium Aspergillus.

Penicillium Aspergillus can cause issues in people with weakened immune systems including allergic reactions, sneezing, coughing, runny nose, itchy eyes and skin rashes. 

Room 116, the Family and Consumer Sciences room, also tested positive.

“I will tell you I am disappointed we didn’t catch it sooner to be honest,” “There were opportunities along the way to maybe not let it get to this point in that south wing and in room 116. We need to fix some of our procedures with HVAC and maintenance requests moving forward, and we are in the process of doing that right now.” Brooks said. 

Brooks said the testing was done by IDEAL Environmental Engineering and since the person testing it did not take mold counts outside to use as the control group, they had to use the standard of 200 spores per cubic meter as the standard. 

Brooks said the testing company felt very strongly that the mold issue in the south wing was from a humidity issue over time.

“It was extremely high on humidity on Tuesday and Wednesday,” Brooks said. Brooks said that the issues causing the humidity was due to one compressor being down that controls the humidity within the HVAC system as well as two leaks in the other compressor. They have both been addressed.
“Whether the fix was permanent or not, we will see. If not, we may have to buy a new compressor,” he said. 

Brooks said humidity should be between 40 and 60 percent inside the rooms, and ideally between 40 and 50 percent. Even prior to the final fix of the compressors by the mechanical company on Monday, the south wing was down to 61 percent humidity.

“We have to get it down lower, and hopefully the final fix to the compressor will do just that” Brooks said. 

In Room 116, the issue is from water damage under some sinks. 

“They feel that could be the source of the mold growth,” Brooks said.  Brooks said there is also a blocked off closet in the room that could be causing some issues because it lacks proper ventilation, even though the tape sample taken in that area came back showing no mold growth in that particular area.

 Brooks said a few areas tested came back just above the 200 limit, including the Ag shop. The hallway right outside of room 116 tested well below 200 and was fine, and two classrooms tested on July 16 in the same building as room 116 tested extremely low (13 spores per cubic meter).

Brooks stressed that the mold found in the high school is a non-toxic mold. 

“It’s considered a nuisance mold, according to IDEAL,” he said. “That said, you still want to get it mitigated and get it fixed and that is what we are in the process of doing.” 

Brooks said Kleen-Rite is going to start the process of mitigating the mold this week.
“Our goal is to get the teachers and the students back into their regular classrooms as quickly as possible,” Brooks said. “For that to happen the rooms have to be cleaned and then tested again.” 

Each room will have to pass the test for students and teachers to be allowed back into them. 

To address maintenance concerns in the future, the district has created a way for staff to submit concerns through a QR code.  Brooks, Page and Maintenance Director Shane Baker get a copy of the maintenance request. Baker will then assign them to a maintenance staff member. 

Brooks, Page and Baker can follow the status of the project to completion.

“There is accountability on everyone’s end that way,” Brooks said.