Mold shuts down Indian Hill School

By maura dowgin
Staff Writer

Mold problems have forced the closure of Indian Hill School, extending the summer vacation for its students.

Although the Holmdel district’s schools were scheduled to open yesterday, Indian Hill School, which houses third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students, will not open until Sept. 8.

The school is remaining closed because of a moisture problem which caused mold to grow in some of the classrooms and the media center during the week of Aug. 11, said Susan Howard, Board of Education president.

The board held a special meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. to address the problem with district parents. About 100 parents of the over 1,000 students of the school attended Tuesday night’s meeting.

"[The moisture problems are] not related to the construction issues," said Maureen Flaherty, superintendent of schools.

The mold was found in the school’s fifth- and sixth-grade wing that was built as part of the last referendum project in 1998, Howard said.

The board is not expecting to push back the start date of school past Sept. 8, Flaherty said, and the board is in discussion with representatives from the Holmdel Township Education Association regarding how to make up the lost school days.

Michael McGuiness, a certified industrial hygienist with specialization in indoor environmental quality from RK Environmental, Cresskill, will be working on the school and testing it to ensure the safety of the students once it reopens.

"Mr. McGuiness conducted an inspection of the building and coordinated district efforts to contract for the drying and restoration process necessary to prepare the building for occupancy," Flaherty said in a letter sent to parents.

Because mold was visible in the fifth- and sixth-grade wing of the school, the district plans on only testing that section of the building, McGuiness said Tuesday.

Parents demanded the entire school be tested, and Flaherty said, "We will probably do more testing."

Although McGuiness told parents Tuesday night that he’s confident enough in the cleanliness of the school that he would send his children to the school.

Flaherty said that parents of students with asthma or allergies should notify the school nurse as soon as possible.

McGuiness’ answer was not enough for Carol Cherry, a parent of a sixth-grader at the school who is sensitive to mold.

"We evacuated from our house in Hazlet because of mold in 2001," she said. "I want the carpets removed, and I want anything that’s porous removed from the classrooms."

Adrian Bond, the mother of a third-grade student getting ready to start at the school this year, doubts the district’s reassurances regarding the problem.

"I think they’re being insincere. I don’t want to send my child to school and have them get sick," Bond said at the meeting.

The school will be professionally dried and the air will be cleaned before students are allowed back in the build­ing, Flaherty said.

"Everything we can do to make sure the school is ready has ben done," Flaherty said.

The board and its professionals are working on finding the cause of the moisture and suspect the heating, ventilation and air conditioning unit as the source of the problem, Flaherty said.

"There were some issues with the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning)," Howard said.

The problems with the HVAC unit have caused moisture to collect in three zones throughout the school including the classrooms and media center, where the mold was found. The HVAC has been shut down, cleaned and put back on line, Howard said.

"Air samples will be taken and, pro­vided we achieve acceptable levels, the school is ready for occupation," Flaherty said.

She assured parents at the meeting that the school’s air conditioning would not be turned on until test results of air samples from the unit are completed.

Flaherty said she did not know when the test results would be available..

The district has no plans to clean the unit’s air ducts, but it will attach terminal filters to the end of the ducts to clean the air coming out of the system.

Victoria Wang, a parent of a third grader at the school is not only worried about the present problems, but she is looking ahead toward the future.

"I want them to constantly check the air and the mold and to constantly update us," Wang said.

To assist working parents who ex­pected their children to be at school for the full day sessions starting yesterday, the "Prime Time" after-school program has expanded to offer full-day supervi­sion at the Village School, Flaherty said.

Indian Hill School is no stranger to mold problems. Room No. 4 has not been used for the past two years be­cause of mold problems that are sus­pected of causing some students to be­come ill.

John Tiffany of Tiffany-Bader Environmental Inc., Titusville, tested the room for indoor air quality, tempera­ture, relative humidity, carbon monox­ide, carbon dioxide and mold during the 2002-2003 school year, said Dominic Carrea, assistant superintendent of schools. All of the test results showed a safe amount of mold inside the room, Carrea said.

Work, such as replacing carpeting, was scheduled to be done over the summer to ensure the safety of the stu­dents in the building, Carrea said.

Room four has not been identified by the board as one of the rooms that cur­rently have mold problems.