Mold-Help.org - The world's largest TOXIC MOLD website
  • Mold Basics
    • Mold Overview
    • Mold Symptoms
    • Mold Types & Images
    • Fungal Infections
  • Resources and Tools
    • Home Care
    • Health & Diet
    • Tips for Parents
    • Coping with Loss
    • Private Research
    • Legal Suggestions
    • Mold in the Bible
  • Mold News
    • Current Headlines
    • “Sick Buildings”
    • The Environment
    • Construction Industry
    • Govt. & Politics
    • The Workplace
    • Landlords & Tenants
    • Insurance Companies
    • Schools & Institutions
    • Strange Fungal Tales
    • Personal Mold Stories
    • Additional Articles
  • Agencies & Experts
  • About Mold-Help
    • Mold-Help News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Elementary School In Crystal Is Mold Casualty

October 3, 2004/in Schools & Institutions /by Contributor

Star Tribune – Mold problems, the bane of school air quality in the Twin Cities over the past decade, is forcing a Twin Cities elementary school to close this fall.

Because of mold that has been nurtured by heavy summer rains, the Robbinsdale School District has decided to shut down Forest Elementary in Crystal.

Staffers and students will move to Golden Valley’s Olson Elementary School for at least the 2002-03 school year. Olson, which is currently empty, has been used in the past to house students displaced by construction projects.

District officials say Forest Elementary is currently safe. Summer school was held at the site — the last day being Thursday — and the school houses a day-care program called Adventure Club.

Superintendent Stan Mack said parents would be offered day care at a different site if they’re concerned. He said air quality at the school is being monitored monthly.

Mack said the mold problems were discovered as part of the district’s normal monitoring procedures. More intensive monitoring was begun in spring 2001 once the mold was discovered. The district also attempted stopgap measures to stop the mold’s growth. The source of the problem, Mack said, is a tunnel system under the school’s floors. The tunnels house heating pipes and rest on earth, which is where the moisture that breeds the mold forms.

Reports from Tamarack Environmental Inc., the district’s air-quality consulting firm, indicated that because of the air-quality concerns, the school’s students and staff shouldn’t occupy it during the coming school year unless measures are taken to fix the problems, which could cause or worsen such respiratory ailments as asthma and allergies. But even temporary measures to clean up the 50-year-old school’s mold would cost $500,000 to $1.5 million.

Such costly and temporary remedies, Mack said, “would be throwing good money after bad, and not a wise investment when we couldn’t guarantee over a long period of time that they would permanently solve the problem.”

Remodeling the school as a long-term solution would cost more than $9 million, according to district estimates. That’s even more than it would cost to build a new school. Indeed, Mack said he wants to hold an election, possibly as early as December, to try to get voter approval to build a new school on the Forest Elementary site.

Olson Elementary is 4 miles from Forest. In moving, “The only issue of inconvenience is a little longer bus ride,” Mack said. Forest had 452 students last year.

Mack said the planned closing marks the first time that the district has had to shut down a school because of poor air quality. But other elementary schools have mold problems too, though less severe. That’s a factor in the district’s remodeling of all 12 of its elementary schools, five of which already have been remodeled.

Mack said the first schools renovated were those with the worst air-quality problems. And Sandburg Middle School, in Golden Valley, was renovated in 2000 to eliminate a worsening mold problem.

Other Twin Cities districts — Anoka-Hennepin and Mounds View among them — have had to close schools with severe mold-related air-quality problems. In the Anoka-Hennepin district, Andover’s Crooked Lake Elementary School was shut down for several months in 1997 and 1998 to get rid of mold at a cost of more than $2 million. In New Brighton, the Mounds View district’s Pike Lake Elementary School was closed for about a month in 1996, then again for much of the 2000-01 school year to combat mold problems.

Dozens of Minnesota schools each year work to solve air-quality problems. Nationwide statistics from the U.S. Government Accounting Office showed that, in 1995, more than half of the nation’s schools had air-quality problems, and that mold was the main culprit.

Mack noted that the district administration building is also experiencing some air-quality problems.

Contributor
Author: Contributor

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://www.mold-help.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/moldhelp-654x300.png 0 0 Contributor https://www.mold-help.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/moldhelp-654x300.png Contributor2004-10-03 21:02:272019-03-30 18:44:07Elementary School In Crystal Is Mold Casualty

Mold News

  • Current Headlines
  • "Sick Buildings"
  • The Environment
  • Construction Industry
  • Govt. & Politics
  • The Workplace
  • Landlords & Tenants
  • Insurance Companies
  • Schools & Institutions
  • Personal Mold Stories
  • Strange Fungal Tales
  • Additional Articles

Latest Posts

  • Michigan Family Finds Toxic Mold Inside Home
  • California Winter Storms: Water Damage and Mold Exposure Concerns in California
  • Office and Commercial Buildings at Risk for Mold after COVID-19 Closings
  • COVID-19 Symptoms May Include Loss of Taste and Smell
  • New Mold Detox Information on the Horizon
  • COVID-19 Courses of Action
  • Stachybotrys
  • Simple and Easy Ways to Prevent the Coronavirus
  • Your Air Conditioning Unit Helps Eliminate Mold
  • Construction Workers Are Learning to Control Dust and Debris

Search Our Site:

Need Help with Mold?

Are you being affected by mold or other mycotoxins in your environment? Our team and community has over 15 years experience and can provide guidance. You can reach us by submitting your contact or through our Facebook page.

Have a Story to Share?

We're looking for stories and input to expand our database and to add to the personal experiences we've received from the thousands of victims over the last 15. If mold has impacted your life, please take the time to share your story. Your information is confidential and will only be shared with your permission.

Seeking Mold Experts

Are you an expert in the treatment of mold-affected health illnesses, or a provider of services to victims of mycotoxin exposure? Submit your information for listing consideration in our Agencies & Experts resource database.

Additional Resources

  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Glossary of Terms
  • Survivor Resources
  • General Inquiries
  • Legal Disclaimer

© Copyright - Mold-Help Organization
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Mold Basics
  • Resources and Tools
  • Agencies & Experts
  • Mold News
  • About Mold-Help
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn more

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Accept settingsHide notification only