Pair of OBX schools declared safe, mold-free

Cleanup efforts delayed events in Kill Devil Hills

KILL DEVIL HILLS — Open house events for First Flight Elementary School and First Flight Middle School are set for Tuesday, after being pushed back two weeks for emergency mold mitigation.

Dare County Schools announced the open houses set for Aug. 24 were rescheduled for 4-6 p.m. at the elementary school and from 5-7 p.m. at the middle school.

The postponement was “to allow teachers additional time to reset their classrooms after the extensive cleaning process,” according to a district press release.

Traditionally, open houses are held before the first day of school so that students and families can meet their teachers and see their classrooms.

School started Monday, with only one room at the middle school remaining closed for mold mitigation.

Following more cleaning of that room last weekend, it was retested Monday and cleared to reopen Tuesday. That means both campuses are now “safe and mold-free,” according to a release.

The school district attributed “isolated incidents of surface mold growth” to a boiler replacement project at both schools that left them unable to control humidity inside the building.

The boilers had not been replaced since the schools were built in 1991, according to district spokesperson Hannah Nash.

The district received the manufactured component needed to complete the installation of the new boilers, and the maintenance department estimated both boilers were to be replaced by this past Thursday, according to the release.

“Builder Services will continue to assist with humidity control until the project is completed,” said the release.

The district announced the presence of mold at the schools on Aug. 16. The combined 102 staff members were displaced until Aug. 23 as the campuses were closed for cleaning.

“Air quality experts” cleared both campuses for staff to “safely return” Aug. 23, except for in one room in each building. The final room at elementary school was cleared to open before school started.

In an Aug. 16 emergency meeting, the school board approved a $932,754 contract with the Raleighbased company Builder Services of North Carolina for mold mitigation, which began the following day.

The district used two vendors for air quality testing, at a combined cost of over $12,000.

The final invoice for the Virginia-based company, ECS Limited, was $8,480. The Cary-based company, LRC Indoor Environment, gave an initial quote of about $4,000, “but more samples were taken than originally quoted,” Nash said in an email.