Mold closes building at Lakewood Ranch High

After one building has been temporarily closed due to visible mold, a comprehensive assessment of the other six buildings on the Lakewood Ranch High School campus will be performed.

That was the message by the School District of Manatee County, which held an informational meeting on Wednesday night in the school's cafeteria.

About 60 parents attended the meeting, which also included Dr. Rene Salazar, USF Environmental and Occupational Health. Also attending were Ron Ciranna, deputy superintendent business services and operations; Superintendent Diana Greene; Randy Lesperance, project manager for Simpson Environmental; and Todd Henson, the director of maintenance and operations for the district.

"If you are very concerned about the health of folks occupying these buildings, relax," Salazar said. "These problems are not unique to this school. What's important is that visible mold was detected."

Building 400, which hosts six classrooms, has been closed and the students were moved to other buildings.

Lesperance said his staff of 45 workers wiped down every surface of Building 400 that could be reached. A thorough cleaning of the HVAC system also was being performed.

Two chillers, at the end of their expected 20-year life span, quit working Monday and have since been fixed. New chillers have been ordered, but will take approximately four more months to arrive.

Lesperance said between 50 and 75 ceiling tiles had been replaced, anything that had visible debris. The work, which began Tuesday, should be finished by the weekend.

Greene said outside-the-district entities were hired to do all the work associated with the problem because the district wanted to have complete transparency.

Parents in attendance said they had seen mold in the band and chorus rooms, an auditorium and other places on campus.

Greene said any place identified as having mold would be at the top of the list when it came to doing a comprehensive assessment. "And we will assess the entire school, including portables," she said.

She said cost of the repairs would come out of the district's capital fund and added she didn't have the amount to date. If the cost for the comprehensive assessment and repairs runs over $50,000, Green said it would have to be approved at the next school board meeting Sept. 12.

Although the school district for more than two years has used an air conditioning schedule which means shutting down units on weekends, all the units will remain running for the time being until the reason for the mold can be identified.