Join our Mailing List!
Please click the link below to sign up for your community paper mailing list. Stay up to date with all the events going on in your community as well as the latest news.Sign Up Today!
PVMS Battles Mold Problem
School Officials Recently Found Spores at PVMS
By Chase Jordan, chasejordan@miconews.com
USD 362 officials hope to deter traces of mold at Prairie View Middle School and are waiting for official air-quality test results.
“As we get deeper in this, it becomes a very complicated problem,” said Superintendent Chris Kleidosty. “The root of the problem is that we have a heating and air conditioning system that was not properly engineered with the building.”
The superintendent said there has always been a humidity issue in the building. During the summer, custodians cleaned the carpet, and the air conditioning was shut off. The heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system is oversized for the classrooms.
“All carpet has inactive mold spores,” he said. “With three criteria, those mold spores will activate, and they will produce mold.”
The three ingredients to create mold is moisture, temperatures above 80 degrees and humidity. The mold discovered was aspergillus, a surface type found in high-oxygen environments.
An environmental expert that deals with testing mold was contacted. Mold was discovered in all the rooms of the middle school except for the library, technology area and the office.
“Most of the mold we’re talking about is not visible,” Kleidosty said. “You got to have a special light to see it.”
He said there are two approaches for the HVAC situation, including retrofitting equipment and working with an engineer for a proper design.
“It’s something that could cost a lot of money, but it’s something that needs to be done,” he said.
Kleidosty recently met with a mold remediation company and received a recommendation to do air-quality tests since the custodial staff has removed and cleaned items from the building. Air testing began Thursday. He received positive information about the air test Monday.
“We have not received a written report yet,” he said. “I really don’t want to elaborate on what he said on the phone except to say that verbally he gave us very good results on air quality. I really don’t want to comment on what those results are until we have them in black and white.”
Steve Haupt, president of the Prairie View USD 362 Board of Education, said the district has to get on top the problem.
printable version
e-mail this story
“As we get deeper in this, it becomes a very complicated problem,” said Superintendent Chris Kleidosty. “The root of the problem is that we have a heating and air conditioning system that was not properly engineered with the building.”
The superintendent said there has always been a humidity issue in the building. During the summer, custodians cleaned the carpet, and the air conditioning was shut off. The heating, ventilating and air-conditioning system is oversized for the classrooms.
“All carpet has inactive mold spores,” he said. “With three criteria, those mold spores will activate, and they will produce mold.”
The three ingredients to create mold is moisture, temperatures above 80 degrees and humidity. The mold discovered was aspergillus, a surface type found in high-oxygen environments.
An environmental expert that deals with testing mold was contacted. Mold was discovered in all the rooms of the middle school except for the library, technology area and the office.
“Most of the mold we’re talking about is not visible,” Kleidosty said. “You got to have a special light to see it.”
He said there are two approaches for the HVAC situation, including retrofitting equipment and working with an engineer for a proper design.
“It’s something that could cost a lot of money, but it’s something that needs to be done,” he said.
Kleidosty recently met with a mold remediation company and received a recommendation to do air-quality tests since the custodial staff has removed and cleaned items from the building. Air testing began Thursday. He received positive information about the air test Monday.
“We have not received a written report yet,” he said. “I really don’t want to elaborate on what he said on the phone except to say that verbally he gave us very good results on air quality. I really don’t want to comment on what those results are until we have them in black and white.”
Steve Haupt, president of the Prairie View USD 362 Board of Education, said the district has to get on top the problem.