Mold Found In 6 Classrooms At 2nd Brick School

BRICK, NJ -- A small amount of surface mold has turned up in six classrooms at Lake Riviera Middle School, Brick Township School District officials said in a letter posted on the district's website Monday.

The discovery comes as the district awaits final test results from Emma Havens Young Elementary School, where mold was found in seven classrooms on Aug. 20. The final report on testing done Sunday, Aug. 26 after the remediation work, is expected to be delivered Tuesday, Aug. 28, by Richard Lynch of Environmental Safety Management Corp. Lynch is overseeing the remediation work being done through Insurance Restoration Specialists.

District officials said the preliminary Emma Havens results indicate the indoor spaces tested contained lower levels of mold spores than compared to outdoor air samples following the remediation. A final decision on reoccupying the school will be made once district officials review the final report.

At Lake Riviera, 6th grade students and staff were scheduled to participate in the annual locker night on Tuesday. But the discovery of the mold has forced the district to postpone Lake Riviera's locker night to Tuesday, Sept. 4.

All of the district's remaining schools are being monitored for signs of mold but a district official said so far, none have been found.

The six affected classrooms at Lake Riviera are in one section of the building, and officials said surfaces in the affected classrooms were immediately cleaned and all the ventilation equipment was inspected "to insure that all components are functioning appropriately," the notice said.

EMSC is testing the air and surfaces "to assure that all locations are safe prior to occupancy by students," the notice said. The affected rooms are being monitored and results of the initial round of testing are due Tuesday as well.

Insurance Restoration Specialists has installed HEPA-filtered air scrubbers in all impacted areas and unit ventilators in all classrooms are being cleaned again. The affected surfaces will be repeatedly cleaned as well.

Extreme humidity and heavy rain that plagued the area much of August, combined with ventilation that brought in some outdoor mold spores and dehumidification equipment that did not do its job were the likely cause of the mold at Emma Havens, Lynch told district officials last week.

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