Parents wonder if annex is safe

Is Lake Zurich Unit District 95's annex building ready for use as an elementary school?

That was the question on the minds of the roughly 200 May Whitney Elementary parents seated in the former middle school's gymnasium Monday night.

Parents voiced concerns about whether the annex building is safe for their children, whether issues such as roof leaks that led to soaked carpeting in some parts of the building are being addressed, and if mold is an issue there as it is at May Whitney.

District officials decided to shut down May Whitney school Aug. 16 after a storm earlier this month led to flooding, asbestos exposure and discovery of the toxic greenish black mold stachybotrys. It was the third time in 15 years the mold had been found at the school.

There is still no definite date for when classes will begin for the 436 displaced May Whitney students. School is expected to start the week after Labor Day, no later than Sept. 10.

District officials said the temporary occupancy permit for the annex, approved by the regional office of education, is valid through mid-September. The regional office is expected to do a final walk-through inspection either Thursday or Friday before signing off on it for the entire school year.

But the biggest issue for parents was the possibility of mold in a building that has largely not been in use for 18 months. Air quality samples were taken in the annex building last week and again on Monday to compare with outside air samples. There has not been any sign of mold spores above the concentrations normally found in the natural outdoor environment, said Shadow Mirkes, environmental engineer for Environmental Health Services Group of Chicago, and the district's mold expert.

If the right environmental circumstances are created, such as humid conditions with poor maintenance and flooding, mold can grow anywhere, Mirkes said. There is no evidence of staych at the annex.

Regardless, parents still were concerned about the level of other mold spores found in the annex.

"There is really no magic number (of acceptable mold) that the Environmental Protection Agency or IEPA or health department has come out with," Mirkes said. "They (the state) do not have a standard for what is safe or not safe. You are never going to have an environment that is zero spores."

Excessive dust can also give a false positive reading in air quality tests, which may be a problem in parts of the annex that have not been used at all.

District officials assured parents they will continually monitor air quality in the building every quarter.

"This building we are constantly trying to keep clean," district Superintendent Brian Knutson said. Knutson said the annex roof had been patched up in areas where leaks were found and wet carpets had been replaced, but there is still more life-safety work that needs to be done in that building.

Roughly $103,000 in life-safety repairs must be completed within a year.

The results of Monday's air quality testing at the annex won't be available until Wednesday. Should the results turn up high concentrations of mold spores, further testing may be needed.

Meanwhile, cleanup of asbestos found in the floor tiles in three classrooms at May Whitney, connected to the annex by a hallway, was completed Friday. Mold remediation work at May Whitney has just begun.