The Lee County Board of Education meets in a regular meeting tonight at 6 pm. At that time it will discuss the immediate issues relative to the report that mold has been found in seven buildings with other buildings remaining to be inspected. What impact Commissioner Jamie Kelly's remarks may have had on their plans may or may not be discussed. Stay tuned.--editor The Meeting That Lead to The Health Department Report
County Manager Ray Crumpton arranged an 8:00 am meeting for August 28 to present the now discredited Health and Security Report (to see a list previous posts click here) to Interim Superintendent Gary Jackson to which Jackson, Tatum, and County Commissioner Chairman Bob Brown were also invited. It was the first such scheduled meeting on the LCHS situation sought by the county this year. Jackson accepted a copy for the schools. Tatum had a more pressing problem on his mind--mold in some of the buildings. The previous day, August 27, Dr. Lynn Smith, chair of the school board's facility committee, had made his own inspection of buildings at the high school in response to complaints about some classrooms. He had reported that he had found what appeared to him to be the presence of mold. Tatum suggested that the next step needed to be an immediate assessment of the the presence of mold since the Martin Health and Safety Report had been dismissive of the issue and could have serious instructional and legal consequences. Based on that information, Crumpton contacted the Health Department triggering the interim report on the conditions in at least seven of the buildings. Over recent years the Board of Education has given significant attention to the issue of mold with reports from both private consultants and experts from the state. The reports provide guidance on the likely health impact of various types of mold and measures for its prevention and removal. The last report was in May of this year which addressed a claim from a student. That report suggested that no mold was present in that area and provided ideas for reducing other potential allergens present in most classrooms. The potential for development of a serious mold problem resulting from leaks and standing water on the campus was frequently cited by speakers that appeared before the commissioners in comment sessions about the high school. According to almost every source, the key to mold control is moisture control. (learn more about mold by clicking here) More Buildings Already Slated For Demolition
What Commissioner Jamie Kelly meant Saturday when he says he now supports renovation of "every building on campus", rather than rebuilding the entire campus is not clear. One building on campus has already been demolished and two more are slated to be demolished this summer. Also unaddressed are the security concerns and instructional plans the Hite recommendations were designed to address. Also, no plan to rebuild the entire campus has ever been proposed. Over this past summer, the Science building was demolished and replaced with traditional mobile class rooms. Funds were appropriated by the commissioners to demolish The Foreign Language building (the original school) and the Art Annex building (the original library) this summer. The Hite Report documented that replacement of these buildings would be less expensive than renovations. The board of education plans to replace these two classrooms with mobile "pods." (To learn more about pods click here.) "Every building" would also include the auditorium which has the largest seating capacity in the county and reportedly has excellent acoustics. The estimate for its renovation is approximately $3 million. Mobile units are not a long term solution, but the only way the school board could quickly address structural concerns and provide instructional space until a new academic building could be constructed. With all the talk of "a new brand" for Lee County, a campus filled with mobile classrooms would hardly fit any "new brand" that might be created for Lee County.
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