West Clark continues to monitor mold issue

Parents continue to be concerned about the presence of mold in West Clark Community Schools, following several health department inspections this month and a recent incident in which students had to be evacuated from classrooms at the Henryville campus.

"I feel so guilty for sending my kids to school," said Lindsay Draper, who has a two students at Henryville Elementary, including a third-grader with a mold allergy. Her daughter has complained of headaches and other symptoms, Draper said, and “I’m sending her to a place that’s probably causing the worst of it.”

While state officials typically don’t see many outbreaks of mold in schools, this year’s humidity weather has caused an increase in reported incidents, a spokesman the Indiana State Department of Health said – and conditions inside Henryville’s combined elementary and middle-high school building, where mold was most prevalent, created “a perfect storm” for mold growth, said Tom Brillhart, who oversees operations at West Clark.

Lack of air conditioning in the gym likely caused much of the problem, he said. Cooler air from air conditioned parts of the building essentially get sucked into the gym, Brillhart explained, causing the school’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system to work harder than it would have to if the gym were air conditioned.

“Our HVAC system was producing way too much condensation, and it was sweating profusely above the ceiling tiles,” he said.

The National Weather Service does not keep historical humidity data, but a meteorologist for the Louisville office confirmed Monday that this summer is one of the wettest in nearly 150 years.

The mold problem appears to be a fairly recent one. In the past year, the Clark County Health Department has only received two complaints about mold found on the Henryville campus, according to documents obtained by the Courier-Journal, both of which were filed in August. Involvement from the Indiana State Department of Health, which handles complaints related to air quality in public schools, began fairly recently as well.

A few days before school started late last month, Henryville custodial staff reported mold and mildew on furniture in several classrooms, Indiana State Department spokesman Matt Scotten said in an email.

Since then, state health inspectors have visited Henryville's building twice – once spurred by anonymous complaints of mold on ceilings and furniture and once at the request of district administrators, according to Clark County Health Department documents and Alan Martin, a registered environmental health specialist with the department.

Original media reports, including from the Courier-Journal, reported that the mold had been entirely cleaned up, students were no longer being removed from classrooms and no other schools experienced issues with mold as of Aug. 19, but Brillhart said late last week the information provided by a spokesperson had not been accurate.

Public records indicate some mold was found on the Silver Creek campus, although Brillhart said the problem there was “very isolated.” He also said the district had thought all mold had been removed from the building at the time, but mold later popped up in places officials had not previously seen.

Since Henryville students were removed from classes earlier this month, West Clark staff has been working with its HVAC contractor, Alpha, to make adjustments inside the building

“The building definitely feels different on the inside,” Brillhart said late last week.

The district’s operation labor crews are also checking every classroom for moisture nightly. When mold is found, Brillhart said, the district is using mold killer Sporicidin – which inhibits mold from growing for seven to 10 days after applied – to remove it.

Brillhart said the district is also investigating any possibility of HVAC problems stemming from the rebuild of the school following the 2012 tornado. District officials are reviewing the school’s blueprint and have asked Alpha to examine each area of the building.

“I know everybody’s going to assume, ‘if it’s happening at Henryville so bad, it has to be (attributed) back to the 2012 tornado and the fact the building wasn’t properly put back together,’” he said. “... if I could prove, that, I would say, ‘That’s it.’ But I can’t.”

Reporter Kirsten Clark can be reached at 502-582-4144. Follow the Courier-Journal’s education team on Facebook at Facebook.com/SchooledCJ.