Wilmington school fights mold problem [VIDEO]

Residents and members of city council still fear that mold found after a water main break at a Wilmington elementary school poses a health problem. 

Now many community residents are questioning whether or not the students of Pulaski Elementary School should be relocated to another building. Wilmington Councilwoman Sherry Dorsey Walker, 6th District, is currently working with the Christina School District to rectify the problem.

“One of the issues that we have is when you look at the long term effects of mold, it’s very difficult for children to learn under these circumstances. Children find themselves having a problem with memory retention, children have a problem understanding and reasoning when it comes to mold in their system,” Dorsey Walker said.

On Friday, the Department of Public Health toured the school which has been cleaned and more testing is underway to test the air quality.

Although the school has been battling the mold issue since August. Acting Superintendent Dr. Robert Andrzejewski maintained the situation is under control.

“If the building itself were unhealthy, we have a plan to relocate our kids if need be. We don’t want to do that if we don’t have to, at this point and time we have no reason to,” Dr. Andrzejewski said.

According to Andrzejewski mold was found in only a few classrooms.

“Our indications were from the reports that this was not a building wide issue, counter to the rumors that are floating around in the community, it was isolated to three rooms,” Andrzejewski added.

Right now the classrooms where mold was discovered have active machines known as air scrubbers on hand. As a result, officials said the mold is going away. However, the issue will be discussed at an upcoming school board meeting.

“One of the things we are going to talk about at the board meeting Tuesday night is setting up a check list on what to look for in buildings regarding mold. We’re going to put together a district wide plan,” Andrzejewski said.