LAFAYETTE — Lafayette Parish school system officials and Plantation Elementary Principal Kay Marix are awaiting test results to determine how much of a problem exists in the school after detection of an apparent toxic mold infestation.

Marix said Monday that a parent’s concern about a student who exhibited allergy problems prompted testing of the air in the rooms where the student most commonly spent the school day.

According to a school system release, the testing of a classroom, a portable building and the school’s band room found that while the classroom and portable building samples were within normal limits, the band room samples indicated abnormal concentrations of a type of mold known as stachybotrys.

The system arranged for tests to be run in the school in December, February and March.
A report on the partial results of a March 31 test states, “The results of the air samples, especially the amplified levels of stachybotrys, are of particular concern and may be posing an undue health risk.”

That report arrived April 6 — the Good Friday holiday marking the beginning of the Easter break. Marix said a crew cleaned the band room area over the holidays.

She and school system Deputy Superintendent Burnell Lemoine said that further sampling was taken after the cleanup and those results will determine what next steps — possible further testing and more cleaning — are taken.
Marix said no classes were canceled at the school of about 630 students.

“We’re keeping kids out of the band room,” Marix said of precautions being taken.

She said a “handful” of parents visited the school Monday morning to ask about the problem and that she had updated them.

The mold cleaning in the band room and band storage room included removing ceiling tiles and insulation above the ceiling tiles; steam cleaning the air conditioning unit’s evaporator coils; wiping, mopping and fogging the rooms twice with disinfectant solutions; and vacuuming the air conditioning duct work.

Lafayette Parish School Board member Greg Awbrey, who has been speaking out about maintenance problems in the system, said Monday that the mold concern could be tied to overall concerns.

“The conditions for mold exist everywhere in the system,” he said.

Awbrey said the Plantation Elementary situation will be a topic at the upcoming board meeting.
“We’re shortcutting on the classrooms, we’re shortcutting on maintenance, we’re shortcutting the janitorial staff,” he said.
He said he has seen pictures of the air conditioning system that indicate possible problems with the cleaning and maintenance of the air conditioning equipment in the affected area of Plantation.

 http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/7057307.html

# # #
 
Pure Air Control Services
 
1-800-422-7873