The Jacksonville North Pulaski School District (JNPSD) announced that Jacksonville Elementary School will remain closed August 24th and 25th as they await “final environmental testing results” after mold was found in the school building.
On Friday, JNPSD provided an update where they announced that a “significant factor contributing to the elevated humidity conditions in the building” had been identified by the Commercial Air team working at Jacksonville Elementary.
“Three of the school’s Dedicated Outdoor Air System (DOAS) units have been malfunctioning, allowing humid air to circulate throughout the building without being properly conditioned. Crews are currently working to locate the necessary parts and correct the issue,” JNPSD said in the update.
In terms of what appears to be the potential cause of the mold, JNPSD shared that a preliminary assessment showed “elevated relative humidity inside the building contributed to the fungal growth observed in several areas.”
The district provided a document of FAQs where they addressed questions about the building’s age, how the mold was initially discovered, and what comes next for students, staff, and parents.
In regards to the condition of the building, JNPSD said that the building is still fairly new but acknowledged that it’s still susceptible to the effects of “high humidity and elevated moisture conditions” over a prolonged period of time.
“Although Jacksonville Elementary School is a relatively new facility, new buildings are not immune to the effects of high humidity and elevated moisture conditions,” the district said. “The recent periods of significant heat and humidity are among the environmental factors being considered as we evaluate the building, its HVAC systems, and indoor air conditions. We will continue relying on environmental and mechanical professionals to identify contributing factors and determine any additional corrective measures that may be necessary.”
The school opened just five years ago, but with students just starting the school year last week parents are also concerned about the rest of the school year and the plan going forward.
Around 3 p.m. on Tuesday, parents received a notification from JNPSD informing them about the mold and air quality concern.
“Mold is very dangerous as well. Is it really going to take five days?” said parent Kiya Lewis, who we spoke to on Tuesday.
The district said that the building received routine cleaning over the summer to prepare for the school year and that the mold was not identified through that process, but rather when a staff member reported a concern.
“The Jacksonville Elementary School building was cleaned this summer as part of the district’s regular maintenance and preparation process. At this time, we have no information indicating that the current conditions resulted from a failure by our maintenance team to perform its regular cleaning responsibilities,” JNPSD said. The current situation was not discovered through routine air-quality testing. A Jacksonville Elementary staff member initially reported a concern about possible mold in the building last week. The District immediately responded by bringing in environmental professionals to assess the identified areas,” the district continued.
Following the original complaint by the initial staff member, additional staff members later reported similar concerns in other classrooms across the school which is what JNPSD said prompted them to expand their testing beyond their original scope and clean the entire school buildings.
“Testing confirmed elevated mold levels in the areas tested,” JNPSD said. “Because additional areas showed similar conditions, the district made the decision to go beyond cleaning only those rooms and instead professionally clean and remediate the entire Jacksonville Elementary School building.”
The district said that multiple companies and contractors are all working at the elementary school in order to determine the cause of the humidity and the mold.
In regards as to what comes next in terms of the step-by-step for testing, JNPSD provided the following:
“The current remediation schedule anticipates that the comprehensive cleaning of Jacksonville Elementary School will be substantially completed by Saturday, August 22, or Sunday, August 23. Once the remediation work is completed, the next critical step will be post-remediation air-quality testing. Environmental professionals currently anticipate conducting post-remediation air sampling on Sunday, August 23. Those samples will then be submitted for laboratory analysis on Monday, August 24, with the District anticipating receiving the results on Tuesday, August 25. The post-remediation testing will include randomly selected areas throughout the building. According to the environmental consultant, because the same remediation procedures are being used throughout the entire school, representative post-remediation sampling can be used to determine whether the building is ready for re-occupancy.”
THV11 submitted a FOIA request and asked various questions, including whether or not all schools in the district have been tested now as a result. The district responded by saying that no, but acknowledged that they’re being proactive and said that all district schools will be inspected so in order to “identify and address any potential concerns before they become larger issues.”