Middletown School District Billed $560K For Mold Remediation

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The Middletown school district was given a preliminary bill of half a million dollars from ServPro of Toms River to remove mold at four Middletown schools.

ServPro billed the Middletown school district $560,000 for the mold removal it has done through Sept. 12, business administrator Amy Gallagher said at the Wednesday night BOE meeting. The first day of school was Sept. 13.

She said the district is "reviewing" the bill. That bill may go up or down slightly as the district reviews the work that was done.

But in the meantime, the school board did approve a $175,000 down payment to Ryles Restoration, LLC, doing business as ServPro of Toms River. That $175,000 deposit will count towards the $560,000 total.

This does not include an entirely separate bill to an environmental consultant the district hired to test all elementary, middle and high school buildings for the mold. That consultant, RK Occupational and Environmental Analysis, Inc., has asked to be paid $152,000. The school district has not paid them yet.

Mold was found at four Middletown schools: Nut Swamp, Lincroft, Navesink and New Monmouth, all elementary schools.

Ryles Restoration/ServPro of Toms River did the bulk of the mold removal in Middletown schools. The bulk of the mold removal they did was done by Sept. 12.

ServPro of Eastontown did the mold removal at Navesink; they will bill the district separately for $36,000, said superintendent Mary Ellen Walker.

The money will come out of the school district's capital facilities fund, not the district's operations budget (money used to pay teachers' salaries, fund sports teams, etc.). Business administrator Gallagher said the district is "vigorously" filing insurance claims to pay for the mold, but she cautioned that those claims can take some time.

And about that lead in the water ...

Also, at the start of the school year high lead levels were found in numerous drinking fountains and classroom sinks throughout the Middletown school district.

Superintendent Walker gave an update on that Wednesday night, saying that filters are currently being added to all drinking water fountains that tested high for lead. Much of the high lead reports came from sinks in science labs and other classrooms and thus, are really not used for drinking purposes, she said.

She said the district will put permanent signs up at those sinks, saying water is non-potable and do not drink. She said the district was very exhaustive in testing for lead, testing every water source in every school, which is beyond what most school districts do.

The lead comes from old, corroded pipes in Middletown school buildings.

Related: Mold Discovery Delays Middletown School Start Date To Sept. 13

Mold Present In 2 Additional Middletown Schools: Report

12 Middletown Schools Have High Lead Levels In Drinking Water

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