Reports detail mold issue at WJPS gym

The level of mold affecting the most commonly-visited area of West Jackson Primary School’s gym is relatively low, according to tests by two inspectors.


Concerned parents at the school have said the decades-old gym — which doesn’t have an air conditioning and heating system — is plagued by a mold problem that is affecting the health of some children, especially those with severe asthma.

A group of parents addressed the Jackson County Board of Education in February about the problems at the gym, including a leaking roof, rusty pipes and open sewer lines. The group encouraged the board to move forward with repairs on the aging gym and showed photos of the condition of the facility.

But during last week’s BOE retreat, two inspectors who conducted studies at the gym said the level of mold spores in the most routine — or most visited — area of the gym was low.

Mike McDowell, a mold inspector for the Pioneer RESA (Regional Education Service Agency), was hired by the school system to conduct a study of the gym.

McDowell said he tested six spots on the gym’s floor, where students were most likely to visit. His inspection didn’t include other areas of the gym, such as the coach’s office, behind the bleachers, under the gym floor or a storage area called “the dungeon.”

McDowell also only tested for live mold — which typically indicates an active problem of growing mold, he explained. Dead mold would indicate that a problem once existed, but has since been resolved.
“You don’t have a live mold problem in the routine use area,” McDowell said of the gym floor.

If the indoor mold count was higher from that taken from outside the facility, that would indicate a mold problem, McDowell said.

At WJPS, the mold count outside the gym ranged from 2,049-2,462, while six test sites on the gym floor indoors varied from 12 to 165.

McDowell didn’t deny that mold exists in the school’s gym, but said it may not be a live mold — pointing to an ongoing problem.

He recommended a cost-effective treatment to remove potential dead mold from the gym using bleach and scrubbing the area clean.

The school’s PTO also hired its own inspector to conduct a mold study of the gym in January. Joe Arcuragi, who inspected the gym, explained his independent results to the BOE on Friday.

Arcuragi said he used a different method of testing the air quality in the gym, but took samples beyond the gym floor.

A sample taken from the gym floor showed that the total mold count was 1,400 spores per cubic meter, compared to 5,080 outside of the facility.

However, the mold count taken from other places inside the gym — under the bleachers, a coach’s office, an equipment room and the “dungeon” — were higher than a sample taken from outside the building.

“We have some very high levels in some places,” he said.

Arcuragi recommended that the district remove the mold with air scrubbers with a HEPA filter, a biocide to kill the mold and a mold block with a 20-year warranty.

Board member Michael Cronic, who represents West Jackson, asked Arcuragi if the gym floor — where children play — is safe.

“Yeah, because it’s not that high of level and you have the ventilation going when you open the front doors and the fans,” Arcuragi said. “But, these other areas are little havens for mold and they can circulate it up.”

Inspector McDowell said higher mold levels would be expected during hotter, humid times. He also explained that about five percent of people are highly sensitive to mold and may have a reaction to mold in any building.
The board of education took no action on the reports.