Board hears plan to handle mold in St. Ignatius administration building
Megan Strickland
The Mission School District Administration building will be closed due to mold issues.
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MISSION — Administrators for the St. Ignatius School District will relocate to old high school office spaces this year, as the district searches for a solution to mold problems in its administration building.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, the school board approved the temporary relocation and authorized superintendent Bob Lewandowski to proceed with exploring the full extent of the damage caused by the mold.
Preliminary air samples and inspection of the building was completed by separate environmental, and structural contractors, after multiple reports of illness, according to Lewandowski.
“I’ve got to tell you the truth. Most days I leave here with a headache,” Lewandowski said.
Air samples revealed levels of aspergillus penicillium mold in the basement and main floor that pose a health threat to people with respiratory problems and compromised immune systems.
“We’re at a level right now where if you have people who are asthmatic, or with immune system deficiencies it will bother them,” Lewandowski said. “People will have an allergic reaction to that. It will be troublesome or difficult. It can be dangerous. For the normal person it may not be, but (the contractor said) ‘I’m looking at the counts and they are becoming dangerous.’”
A professional who looked at the system predicted changes to the heating and cooling system are going to be the minimum improvements necessary to fix the problem, according to Lewandowski. Currently, air is sucked upward from the basement, which has standing water in its bottom. Even if the basement was improved the building is likely to still have problems.
“The outside foundation of the building is crumbling away,” Lewandowski said.
Lewandoski plans to talk with the school’s insurance agency to see if its policy covers any of the damage. He also said he might write an emergency grant from the state to help cover costs for the project.
The process of getting an estimate of the extent of the damage and how much it will cost to be remedied is likely to be lengthy and expensive, but is necessary to be adaquately informed on ’“The bottom line is that we have to protect our employees,” Posivio said.
The board also:
• passed a more than $3 million budget that will not raise taxes.
• approved hiring an assistant clerk.
• approved advertising for a construction manager at risk that will protect the school from liability during work on the exterior of the building.
