Mold cleanup in works at two schools

Two St. Charles Parish schools are getting a last-minute scrub down before school starts Monday after mold was discovered in classrooms.

The problems at St. Rose Elementary and Harry Hurst Middle School coincide with an $800,000 mold cleanup at a school in neighboring St. John the Baptist Parish.

St. Charles School Board member John Smith described the situation at St. Rose, in a 12-year-old building that houses 12 classrooms, as "a recurring problem" that cropped up last year and also on several other occasions.

"I want a permanent solution to the problem," Smith said. "We may have to upgrade or replace the air conditioner . . . It may mean we may have to demolish that building and look at reconstructing it."

Larry Sesser, director of physical plant services for the district, said the prospect of demolition was "extreme." He said the first option would be to fix the air conditioning system in the classrooms to reduce humidity in the school.

Sesser said the mold was limited to two classrooms at St. Rose. Two buildings built in the past two years on the campus off River Road are mold-free, he said.

Although no health problems have been reported, Superintendent Rodney Lafon said the district is "going to do some (air) tests to see exactly what we have and don't have."

At Hurst, on River Road in Luling, mold has partially covered walls or ceiling tiles in three classrooms, according to board member Cindy Brasher.

Sesser said the ceiling tiles were being replaced, and the walls will be repainted this weekend. Because of the limited scope of the cleanup and because mold has not been a problem at Hurst in the past, Sesser said no air tests would be done at the school.

Although some molds are innocuous, others can cause allergies in susceptible people, and some so-called "toxic" molds are blamed in serious sicknesses such as chronic asthma, lung infections and high fevers.

St. John's mold problem, in the Glade School in LaPlace, drew a lawsuit from parents alleging their children were getting sick from mold exposure while school officials ignored the school's long-standing problem.

St. John officials and their attorneys insist repairs made to the school this summer were proactive, not reactive, and that claims of sickness have been exaggerated.

Glade is slated to open Monday, two days after classes at other St. John schools resumed.