Westover School Closing For a Week Due to Mold

11/5/2018 (Permalink)

STAMFORD — After outcry from parents and poor air quality test results, the district has resorted to closing Westover Magnet Elementary School for at least a week to remediate mold and other facility problems that are allowing its growth.

While the school is closed, parents have the option of sending their children to the Boys and Girls Club on Stillwater Avenue for the day if they need child care, deputy superintendent Tamu Lucero announced at a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night.

The closing comes after news that Northeast and Newfield elementary schools are shutting their portable classrooms for the time being due to mold infestations.

The decision to close Westover was made following the end of the school day Tuesday, after the district received preliminary air quality test results from a Saturday inspection of the building. The early results showed 21 elevated mold counts out of 90 tests performed.

“If we’d gotten these results back at 10 o’clock this morning, we would’ve recommended you close school today based on the counts that we saw,” Mike Handler, the city’s Director of Administration, told school officials at the Tuesday night board meeting.

The school’s gym, not affected by the mold, will remain open for voting on Election Day, Nov. 6, said city Republican Registrar of Voters Lucy F. Corelli.

The mayor’s office on Tuesday announced the formation of a Stamford Public School Mold Task Force consisting of Handler, interim Director of Operations Cindy Grafstein, Lucero, Chief Financial and Operations Officer Clarence Zachery and City Engineer Lou Casolo. The task force will investigate, develop and implement ongoing remediation efforts and monitoring programs while planning short-term and long-term solutions to the problem.

Mold problems have been found throughout the district. The most recent mold status report from Stamford Public Schools shows mold was also found in the OT/PT room at Northeast. Remediation dates are to be determined.

According to that report, dated Oct. 25, there is also mold in Cloonan Middle School, Hart Magnet Elementary School, KT Murphy Elementary School and Turn of River Middle School. Initial remediation has already cost the district more than $427,260, not counting custodial overtime.

“Right now at Westover, it’s not acceptable,” Handler said. “That’s why we closed the school.”

Handler said officials are prepared to keep Westover closed an additional week if needed, as well as work on it during Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Maintenance projects, including drain clearing, gutter repair and window caulking, will be done during this time, to prevent further mold incidents.

He added that there will be an increased number of people on site during future inspections, including hygienists to identify mold and additional custodians to move ceiling tiles and speed along the process. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be present as well.

Data will also be collected from teachers and students about symptoms of any mold-related health problems to form a better understanding of what’s happening in the building.

“Our hope is that with the comprehensive peer review and visual inspection, coupled with the test results we get back tomorrow ... we can get a plan for remediation for each of the rooms,” Handler said. “The reason why school was closed was not just out of an abundance of caution, but because it’s the right thing to do. ... There is no physical place to put kids anymore that’s safe in the school.”

In the meantime, the district’s paraprofessional union will send staff to supervise children the Boys and Girls Club, Lucero said, and Chartwells food service will provide breakfast and lunch. Busing will remain the same, given the club’s close location to the school.

Sharon Beadle, spokesperson for Stamford Public Schools, said the displaced students would be housed at the Boys and Girls Club on Wednesday apart from the students in the district’s Alternative Routes to Success program, who are normally in the building during the day. After Wednesday, ARTS students will be temporarily moved to the Ferguson Library.

Beadle said less than 100 students showed up to the club on Wednesday and the district will continue to re-assess the situation.

“We’re really grateful to the Boys and Girls Club for their generosity,” she said. “This is sort of a whirlwind, trying to accommodate students on such short notice.”

While the mold is being remediated, facilities upgrades will also be made to Westover, Handler said, which will hopefully prevent future spread of mold. The ventilators in each classroom are being upgraded, drain valve systems are being replaced, gutters are being repaired, window caulking will be improved and the auditorium HVAC system will be fixed.

“We’re not going to get this all done at once,” Handler said. “We’re going for the low hanging fruit first. Our hope is we’ll get the building safe for kids to occupy, we’ll maintain it safe and we’ll fix its underlying issues. If we don’t fix underlying water intrusion issues, this is going to be a perpetual problem we’re dealing with for the rest of our lives.”

Lucero said families were notified of the closing Tuesday afternoon.

According to Superintendent Earl Kim, there is no plan in place yet to make up the missing days. Suggestions have included making them up at the end of the year (pending any inclement weather days) and sending students to school during spring break.

Last week, parents and staff from Westover and Newfield elementary schools spent two hours at a board meeting demanding action be taken to remedy a growing mold problem at both schools.

Following the outcry, a decision was made to close the portables at Newfield.

According to a letter sent to parents Monday by Northeast Principal Shawn Marinello, the portable classrooms are being closed temporarily out an “abundance of caution” per the recommendation of industrial hygienist company Hygenix.

The letter said Hygenix conducted a further investigation of the portables and advised the school to close the portable classrooms until further testing results come later this week. Music classes, previously conducted in the portables, will now be held in homerooms.

Content from: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/Northeast-School-portables-closed-due-to-mold-13348534.php

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