Superintendent Update #3

Monday, April 16, 2018

As you will be able to tell from the work summary posted within this update, we continue to make excellent progress in our remediation of more than half of the first floor.  All zones have been deconstructed and received environmental clearance, and reconstruction is underway in nearly all zones.  Right now, our biggest challenge is getting the casework (cabinets and cubbies) fabricated and ready for installation.  Since we have no commitment yet from the manufacturer, it is looking less and less likely that we will be able to get teachers and students back into their original classrooms before the close of school (which was the goal when we started).  This could change, but right now I’m predicting we will finish the year still in our temporary spaces.

A few folks have inquired about the type of mold we have discovered and the levels we have recorded.   In the course of our testing, we have detected the presence of at least seven different types of mold spores.  As you likely know, we will almost always have some spores be detectable, since there are spores everywhere in our environment.  The one that we have paid the most attention to is “Aspergillus/Penicillium.”  We did receive some elevated readings for that specific spore type within the work zone after the workers had removed the contents of all those rooms effected by the flood.  Given how much was being stirred after that weekend, I was not surprised by that result.  Two of the readings were 7,560 and 10,600 count/m3, and a cumulative reading for a total of all spore counts of 20,590 count/m3 were all found in the contained work area on the Monday after the weekend when the contents of all the effected rooms had been cleaned and removed.  Despite this spike, our Industrial Hygienist recently reported to me that . . . “the work conducted to date has effectively and substantially improved the indoor air quality within the school, and the current and continued occupancy of the non-affected areas is appropriate and does not present an exposure hazard for users of the building.” 

Zone 1: (West Hallway):

Painting completed
Flooring scheduled for week of 4/16
Ceiling grid is in
Baseboard heat housing, toilets, smart boards, projectors, routers, etc. are being remounted
With the exception of the casework, Zone 1 completion by 4/20/18

Zone 2: (North Hallway):

Drywall completed
Painting expected completion 4/16/18
Ceiling grid completed by 4/20/18
Miscellaneous items installation (i.e. smart boards, routers, projectors, etc.) on-going
With the exception of the casework, projected completion by 4/25/18

Zone 3: (K wing to Main Office):

75% of the drywall is completed
We will have a better idea of total completion for this Zone later on

Zone 4 (Library):

Total completion not yet projected