St. Francis: More mold found in portable classrooms

Cedar Creek staff moved students into the gym, labs and lounge. An air quality company is testing samples found in the portable classrooms, which house the school's overflow population.

By Norman Draper, Star Tribune

Last update: October 30, 2007 - 12:04 AM

More mold has been found in portable classrooms in the St. Francis School District.

This time, say school officials, the problem isn't as severe as the one more than a week ago in the portable classrooms at St. Francis Elementary School.

Still, water and mold were bad enough at Cedar Creek Community School in Cedar that students in eight classrooms -- 207 of the school's 1,088 students -- had to be moved Monday from the dank and musty portables to the science lab, staff lounge and gym in the school building.

"It disrupts gym, it disrupts science instruction, it's just a general pain," said Darin Hahn, Cedar Creek principal.

The portables house the schools' overflow student population.

Superintendent Edward Saxton said school officials were concerned about the portable classrooms, where windows leak when it rains and generate complaints that they reek of moisture.

"One person said it smelled like his mother's root cellar," Saxton said. Last Friday, district officials cut into the sheetrock walls in three of the portables and found the mold, now being tested by a local air quality testing company. There was enough evidence of mold to convince school officials that kids and teachers and some basic classroom furniture and supplies had to be moved. That, said Saxton and Hahn, happened Monday morning with the help of the school staff and the first-hour physical education class from St. Francis High School.

"They were ready for the students at 8:45 a.m.," when school began, Saxton said. "There are still things to do, but the teachers have a space, the kids have a space, and they're out of the portables, which was our major concern."

So far, there haven't been any parent complaints. But Hahn said there have been some complaints from students and teachers whose allergies have flared.

Hahn said the prognosis is for an "eight- to 15-day fixable problem," and that representatives of the company that leases the district the portables -- ModSpace of Wayne, Pa. -- were supposed to be at the school by today to figure out how to fix the problem. District officials expect ModSpace to come up with a solution for the 18 portables at St. Francis Elementary School that had to be vacated because of mold problems. At that school, 250 of the school's 775 students had to be moved, some to another district building. Saxton said he doesn't expect those portable classrooms ever to be habitable.

"Those won't house students in our district ever again," he said.

In a statement, ModSpace officials said the company "has repeatedly indicated its desire to resolve this situation as quickly as possible and with as little disruption as possible to the children of St. Francis."

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547

Norman Draper • ndraper@startribune.com