Mold delays start of school at Doolittle Elementary

CHESHIRE — Students at Doolittle Elementary School won’t start classes until Thursday as district officials officials look to clean up mold that was discovered at the school over the weekend.

Superintendent of Schools Jeff Solan updated Doolittle parents on mold cleanup in an email Tuesday. The rest of the district schools started classes Monday

“As was evidenced last year, we are deeply committed to keeping schools open and accessible to all of our students all of the time,” Solan said in an email obtained by the New Haven Register.

“Unfortunately, the conditions at Doolittle are such that we will not be able to open until Thursday,” Solan said. “The two days missed will be added to the end of the school year making Doolittle’s last day of school June 13th, provided we do not have any snow days (the State of Connecticut will not permit virtual days during weather events this year).”

Mold also recently was found in at least two New Haven schools. In an email sent to the Board of Education by Superintendent of Schools Iline Tracey, Chief Operating Officer Thomas Lamb said the humid summer and struggling HVAC-related issues were the culprits.

Humid air that is not circulated will present as surface mold, especially inside storage bins, closets, cubbies and other confined spaces, Lamb said.

Solan was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. But in his email to parents, he said “the very humid and warm conditions over the past week coupled with the lack of air circulation led to the outbreak in dark or more concealed areas around the school.”

“This condition was not present a week ago,” he said. “Mold is a natural organic fungus that is present in almost all environments (including outside) which is why experts do not recommend air sampling to detect presence. The mold at Doolittle is ‘white/grey’ mold and not ‘black’ mold.”

Most of the district’s buildings don’t have air handling units in many sections to circulate/filter air, according to Solan. Air circulation limits the likelihood of this condition occurring, he said.

“When initial spores were first discovered on several Chromebooks stored in the library, we engaged in a thorough review of the building,” Solan wrote to parents. “The underside of desktops and tables were where the mold was most prevalent. The fact that the mold was not visible on desktops and common surfaces made it difficult to detect.”

Servpro, a remediation firm, was at Doolittle Tuesday and has been cleaning all surfaces in the building, according to Solan.

“They are methodically going room by room ... using the green cleaning product Vanquish,” he wrote. “They are also running industrial HEPA air purifiers throughout the building as well as dehumidifiers.

All classrooms will be thoroughly cleaned by the end of the day tomorrow and ready for use on Thursday morning.”

Doolittle’s library will be closed and sealed off from the rest of the building on Thursday, according to Solan.

“Servpro will complete the cleaning of that area with an anticipated opening of Friday,” he wrote. “As a parent, I fully appreciate how disruptive it is when school is closed.”

Board of Education member Tim White said “the important thing is that we get it remediated as soon as possible.”

“I could see how nobody would notice it after we saw pictures of where the mold was found,” White said.

But some Cheshire parents said when contacted by the Register that mold has been a reoccurring problem in the district’s school buildings for years.

“I am beyond frustrated with this issue,” parent Shawnna McHugh-Barata said via social media. . “If it was just one time, it might be forgivable, but this is an ongoing problem.”

Several Cheshire High School teachers filed workers’ compensation claims at the end of 2010, citing health issues they had experienced related that they believed were related to mold at the school. District officials received complaints from more than a dozen teachers.

“If this is a known problem ... then it’s time to put air purifiers and portable air conditioners in every classroom,” McHughBarata said.

Parent Brittany Wihbey Bartlett said she lives near Doolittle and “I can attest that there has been construction going on all summer long.”

“The fact that they are finding mold the day before the first day of school when parents/guardians have taken time off from work to be there for their kids first day of school is frustrating,” Wihbey Bartlett said.