Mold found in 2 Beaufort County schools. What does that mean for returning students?
Construction workers at Whale Branch Elementary and Middle Schools discovered “high-water activity mold” inside walls last week — but students will return to those buildings for classes on Monday.
Beaufort County School District officials said students and staff have not, “to our current knowledge,” been exposed to the mold, and environmental consultants confirmed that locations with mold have been sealed off from the rest of the building.
The mold “was likely a result of faulty air-conditioning installations performed 20 years ago,” but was present in walls adjacent to the units and not in the units themselves, according to district spokeswoman Candace Bruder.
“These units served individual classrooms, and thus did not impact the air-quality or cross-circulation throughout the buildings,” Bruder said. “The locations where the mold was identified were sealed off and isolated from the rest of the building.”
Bruder added that Terracon, an environmental consulting firm, confirmed the presence of mold on Sunday, and “confirmed that the mold has been properly sealed off and currently presents no danger to building occupants.”
Staff were asked to work remotely starting Sept. 25, and were allowed to return to the buildings or continue to work remotely on Tuesday.
Students are slated to return to both schools on Monday, when the district will begin offering hybrid learning along with the remote learning it started last month.
Bruder said that approximately 30% of Whale Branch Elementary and 15% of Whale Branch Middle students opted for hybrid instruction, meaning they’ll attend classes in person two days per week and online three days a week. The remaining students chose to continue online-only classes.
During Monday meetings with both schools’ staff and the Whale Branch cluster’s school improvement council, the district presented two options for next week: Students and teachers could either return to the buildings “in safe areas outside of the sealed-off locations,” or they could move classes to Joseph Shanklin Elementary School and Whale Branch Early College High School until “remediation repair work is completed in December.”
On Thursday afternoon, the district informed teachers and parents that classes would be held in the Whale Branch Elementary and Middle buildings.
“The safety environmental consulting firm Terracon repeatedly confirmed that the mold has been properly sealed off,” Rodriguez said in a message to the schools’ community members. “Testing performed by Terracon has confirmed it is safe for instruction.”
Rodriguez said that the district performed additional testing Wednesday “just to confirm previous findings.”
“We won’t have these results until (Friday), but don’t anticipate any issues,” Rodriguez said. “If results indicate anything that will necessitate scheduling or location changes, you will be notified immediately.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 3:34 PM.