Mold found at school
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A slightly elevated level of mold was found during a recent testing at Cooper Elementary School, but Bentonville School District officials don't believe there's cause for alarm.
It's believed that the elevated mold readings are coming from mulch on the playground near the south end of the building, members of the Bentonville School Board's Facilities Committee were told Apr. 22.
Mold tests are performed by taking samples of the air both inside and outside a structure. If the amount of mold in the air inside a building is higher than what is in the atmosphere outside, that determines that there is a mold problem in the building.
The mold test in the south end of Cooper Elementary was higher than elsewhere in the building, but not as high as the outside air levels.
Cooper, which was built more than a year ago, came under scrutiny from Bella Vista resident Ed Chitty for what he claimed was shoddy construction. He claimed the building would be susceptible to mold because of problems that occurred during the construction process. Construction and architectural officials stood behind their work, however, and extended the warranty on the full building envelope for five years, with a promise of performing mold tests at one-, three- and five-year intervals. The first of those tests was completed recently, said Scott Passmore, the Bentonville district's construction manager and director of facilities.
Passmore said the air samples were taken in various parts of the school, including the cafeteria, the gymnasium and in the north and south ends, both upstairs and downstairs. The only part of the school that came back with elevated mold readings inside the building was the south end. Further testing, however, showed that there was more mold in the air outside the south end compared to other parts of the building.
This development led Passmore and other school officials to believe that the mold source is coming in from outside the building, and the likely culprit is the wood mulch on the playground. Although full results of the tests have not come back from the testing agency, Passmore said preliminary results appear that the type of mold found in the school is common with dying vegetation.
The committee discussed several options, including removing the mulch and purchasing a different type of material for the playground. Another option being considered is to have additional mold-spore testing, perhaps within the next two to four weeks; the next regularly scheduled testing is not until 2010. Committee members decided, however, to hold off making any decisions until all the test results have been submitted.
Passmore said the district will be comparing the testing information to mold levels within the state to determine if they are abnormally high.
Then, school district officials should be able to determine the severity of the problem, and whether it is simply a seasonal issue related to heavy rain this summer that might have produced higher-than-normal mold counts.
Staff Writer Gaynell Belloni contributed to this story.
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