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

School Claims Advances Over Mold Problem

October 3, 2004/in Schools & Institutions /by Carolyn Willbanks

Sullivan, TN – Lynn Stewart of the Sullivan County School System applies adhesive around the edges of an old vent in the Sullivan East high School library as he works on the school’s project to eliminate a mold problem. (Jason Davis) The 950 students at Sullivan East High School should be able to reclaim their library today after $22,000 worth of work to remedy a mold problem there. And tonight, parents attending a Parent-Teacher Association open house will be able to question school officials about the mold situation as well as get information on work to start later in the week on about 20 classrooms that also have a problem with mold. “We have had a moisture problem for years,” Principal Mary Rouse said in her office Friday morning as she did something that has become common for her in recent weeks — being interviewed by a reporter.

Rouse said 14 parents had called concerning the situation following newspaper and television reports earlier this month. She said most just had questions or actually complimented the school system’s response, although she called two of them “irate.” Some have complained the mold is making their children sick. Officials say the problem is being handled as quickly and efficiently as they know how. “That is being addressed the very best I know how to address it,” county Schools Director John O’Dell said last week. “There’s been a little bit of hysteria over that.”

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, mold can cause allergic reactions and in some cases can be toxic. Rouse said at least one student has been particularly allergic to the mold. But some rumors about the situation have been untrue, she said. No one has been hospitalized because of exposure to the mold, and officials have no reason to believe any of the fungus is “black mold,” as at least one parent has indicated. Black mold, or stachybotrys mold, is toxic and can be deadly. Black mold has to have cellulose — usually wood or a wood product — to develop and can’t grow on concrete, metal or plastic, according to the school system’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning foreman, Kenny Goff. “The black mold has never shown up in any amount in any of our testing,” Goff said of previous mold incidents at Blountville Middle and Rock Springs Elementary schools. “We haven’t had any indication or any reason to believe it was toxic mold.” The library mold was in 200 feet of old heating and cooling duct.

Instead of a standard sheet-metal duct, it was an unlined concrete-and-block trench just below floor level and below bookshelves. O’Dell, the schools director, said a temporary shutdown of the heating and cooling system over the summer to allow for installation of a new boiler may have compounded the humidity and mold problem in the library. The library has four dehumidifiers, but the cooling system also removes moisture from the air. The library was closed last Monday, and workers started encapsulating the old ductwork that contained mold and installing new ductwork overhead. Most of the work was done by HVAC Inc. of Bristol Tennessee, although county workers did some of the work sealing the old vent area.

Now, each classroom in the affected A pod or circle area of the school will be addressed one at a time, officials said. Contract workers are to remove 1-inch insulation from the pipes carrying cooling water and replace it with 3-inch insulation. O’Dell, who plans to meet with the school’s faculty about the situation on Thursday, said that should stop mold-friendly condensation from forming and dripping onto ceiling tiles. Mold in a hallway will be addressed for the time being by replacing ceiling tiles that get wet due to a roof leak, O’Dell said. He said the roof is about four or five years old and leaks because of an installation or design flaw.

Don Morrell, carpenter foreman for the school system, said the problem appears to be a design flaw in the way the flat roof over the hallway was tied in to a roof placed over the library dome in 1998. “We had a guy come from Knoxville who guaranteed he could fix it,” Morrell said. “He never did, but he never came back to get his money, either.” ODell said the school system, struggling with a budget shortfall of $1.5 million to $3 million or more, simply doesn’t have the $250,000 needed to replace the roof this year.

School board members Jack Bales of Sullivan Gardens and Larry Harris of Colonial Heights have urged O’Dell to see whether the contractor who installed the roof has any liability to help fix the problem. The cost of fixing the classrooms and library will run about $70,000, O’Dell said. Meanwhile, the problem should subside naturally as the weather turns cooler and heating replaces air-conditioning in the building, O’Dell claimed. “All the mold problems go away when you start heating, but we want it to be gone before that,” he said.

Carolyn Willbanks
Author: Carolyn Willbanks

Tags: mold, mycotoxins, mould, fungus, fungal exposure, black mold, schools
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 Carolyn Willbanks https://www.mold-help.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/moldhelp-654x300.png Carolyn Willbanks2004-10-03 21:02:302018-09-07 19:02:48School Claims Advances Over Mold Problem
You might also like
Mold-Help logo Quotes from Occupants of Mold-Contaminated Environments
Mold-Help logo Florida Police Station Undergoing Mold Tests
Woman Looking at her Tongue in the Mirror 12 Signs and Symptoms That You Have an Overgrowth of Candida albicans
Mold-Help logo Mold Alert
Photo of tissue diseased with Aspergillus Aspergillosis: Diseases Caused By Aspergillus
Mold-Help logo Legal: Anatomy of a Mold Case

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