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DALLAS TWP. — A mold issue at the Dallas Elementary School that closed off two classrooms plus girls and boys restrooms is addressed, but the areas will remain off-limits to students until a roof repair is complete, Superintendent Thomas Duffy said Monday.
Last week, two classrooms were closed to students when a 5-inch by 7-inch piece of wall peeled, revealing a “damaged, stained wall beneath,” Duffy said at the May 17 school board meeting.
SERVPRO was brought in over the weekend to clean, sanitize and treat the affected classroom, Duffy said Monday.
“They (SERVPRO staff) removed a section of drywall and ceiling tiles,” he said.
A mold-resistant coating was applied to the beams inside the walls, the superintendent added.
An adjacent classroom was also cleaned and sanitized as a precaution as well as neighboring girls and boys restrooms.
The four-room area is sealed off until roof repairs are made, Duffy said. A date as to when the roof work would begin was unavailable.
But Duffy said an environmental hygienist is arriving Tuesday to conduct further testing.
“It can take several days to receive the testing results,” he said.
A leak in the roof caused the mold to form, said Duffy.
At last week’s school board meeting, Dallas Elementary Principal Thomas Traver told the audience the school is a prefabricated building constructed in 1972 to house flood victims.
The roof is made out of “sandwich panels,” consisting of corrugated cardboard sandwiched between panels, said Traver. It has been repaired and re-supported numerous times, he noted.
The mold issue is just the latest in a series of issues for the 45-year-old building.
Parts for the school’s aging heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems are not manufactured any longer. And plumbing problems are common and require pulling up tiles and breaking through a concrete slab to reach pipes, Traver said previously.
School board members have discussed replacing the building for years.
Last week, board members took a step toward that goal by approving a bond agreement with PNC Bank to fund a new school to replace Dallas Elementary at a cost not to exceed $39.5 million.