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During Thursday’s monthly meeting, Lauderdale County school board members were given an update on efforts to clean up mold found back in August in one of the modular trailer classrooms on the Clarkdale campus and steps being taken to ensure mold does not grow inside the building in the future.

“We want to make sure the things we are doing to mitigate it, solves the problem,” said Kelvin Jackson, school board president.

The district’s Director of Operations Adam Foreman told board members he was first made aware mold was found in the 1200 modular trailer at Clarkdale on Friday, Aug. 11. He was unable to get someone to inspect the trailer that day, but met Lamar Arrington from Servpro of Meridian at the building the following Monday.

They identified mold during the inspection, and Foreman said he reached out to Clarkdale administrators later that day and told them to move the students out of the modular trailer.

The building sat unoccupied for nearly two months while Servpro worked to remove the mold and clean up the building, then a professional company, the Pickering Firm of Flowood, was brought in to conduct air quality inspections in the building. A second air quality test was performed at the request of parents concerned for their children.

The board heard via a phone conversation from Willie Nester, project manager for the Pickering Firm, as well as from Joe Drapala, an industrial hygiene manager at Southern Environmental Management and Specialities. Drapala was also brought in by the district to give his assessment of the indoor air quality status of all of the modular buildings on the Clarkdale campus.

Clarkdale has been using modular classrooms for some of its elementary grades since two tornadoes swept through the campus in spring 2022, heavily damaging Building 300 on campus. The board is expected to award a bid in early November to a contractor to begin work on the building.

Mold can be found both indoors and outdoors, anywhere moisture and oxygen are present, Nester said. It can be caused by a roof leak, condensation from an air conditioner or just high humidity in a metal building after the air conditioner has been turned off all summer, he said.

“Mold is everywhere. You are not going to get a zero level,” Nester said, adding that it is common to find mold in many houses.

Jackson asked Nester if his employees found a source for the mold growth.

“Sometimes it is hard to really pinpoint,” Nester said, adding his employees were unable to determine the source of the mold.

Nester said he recommends using Concrobium to clean up mold found inside a building.

“It not only kills it, but leaves a film there that helps keep it from growing back. Once you clean it good …. and they did use that as far as I know and it should keep it from growing back,” he said.

Drapala told board members he and Foreman went through all of the trailers, looked for any water damage and roof leaks, but did not find anything. He said he did a cursory infrared thermography survey of the buildings to look for evidence of water damage.

They looked at the air conditioning, heating and ventilation systems and did not find anything that would be a source for mold, but he did say all of the buildings’ air conditioning units and closets were in need of cleaning. He recommended to the board having Servpro come in and clean the closets and any attached units to the buildings really good.

“It didn’t look like you had, from what I saw, a severely contaminated building,” Drapala said. “It wasn’t reported to me that you had a massive leak in the building. It might have been because the buildings were closed up over the summer break and it had some kind of condensation occur inside of it.

“That is usually the case. If you are not air conditioning the building during unoccupied times, you could have that issue,” he said of mold growth.

Drapala is working with the district to design a comprehensive inspection procedure to make sure the modular buildings’ indoor air quality remains at safe and acceptable levels.

The district has notified parents sample air quality tests indicate the building is safe to occupy, and students and staff were allowed to return to the building earlier this month. Additonal safeguards have been taken, such as the installation of high-efficiency HVAC filters, dehumidifiers and moisture barriers underneath the building.

The district also said it will continue to conduct inspections and perform specific maintenance tasks to keep mold from growing in the building, including watching for any signs of water leakage or stains and for mold growth or odor. Air supply outlets and return inlets will be inspected to make sure they are open, operable and unobstructed.