Mt. Vernon Register-News

Local

August 24, 2009

MVTHS battling another mold problem

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Mt. Vernon Township High School is still battling moisture problems in G Building, but this time, condensation created a film of mold in some of the classrooms.

“As far as we know at this time, the mold issue that existed before the beginning of the school year has been corrected,” MVTHS Superintendent Mike Smith said. “We have replaced the roof, which addressed the infiltration of water through the roof, and addressed the water coming in around the window panels. We have every reason to believe we can now move forward and that problem has been resolved.”

However, while the roof project is being concluded, several of the classrooms are without air conditioning, which has created a highly humid atmosphere in those classrooms and resulted in condensation on tables, desks, chairs, floors, walls and equipment.

“The air conditioning was on, then the air conditioning was turned off,” Smith said.

“Then there was no air circulation in those rooms, which contributed to what would appear to be a recurrence.”

Four to six classrooms were affected, and was further exacerbated by an air handling unit which malfunctioned. The thermostat controls have since been recalibrated by Honeywell, and the issue resolved, Smith said.

“Between readjusting the thermostat, the roof repairs and the ventilation units, we believe this was a one-time occurrence,” Smith said.

“It was not a reoccurrence of the mold issue we had before. This was surface mildew that was based on the condensation in those rooms ... which was directly related to those variables.

“There have been no reoccurrence of the mildew and it’s been several days since it happened. We’ll continue to keep an eye on it and see.”

Treatment of the mildew was done by maintenance staff at the high school, Smith said, who wiped down the surfaces in the classrooms with bleach wipes.

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