NORTH BRUNSWICK – Students returned to a safe and clean North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS) on Sept. 17 after any and all surface mold was remediated.
Students attended half-day sessions of school on Sept. 5-6, but on the morning of Sept. 7, mold was detected from the air conditioning units. Working through the district’s insurance carrier, four certified environmental companies were on site to examine all 240,000 square feet of the high school. Although only two areas of the school were impacted, the entire school was monitored, according to Superintendent of Schools Brian Zychowski.
“It happened to be a perfect storm,” he said, noting that the air conditioning went down during 100 degree days with high humidity, so condensation occurred. He said prior tests during the summer showed the system was working properly.
The process took more than a week because air quality sampling takes an average of 45 minutes per standard room and longer for larger rooms, and there was a backlog of cases in testing labs throughout the state, he said.
None of the school’s 1,850 students or 350 staff members were exposed to any mold, Zychowski said.
“The good news is, no one was in any danger because the air conditioning wasn’t working right … and visually there was nothing growing,” he said. However, he said he “wasn’t going to take a chance.”
The cost of the examinations and cleanup is expected to be about $500,000. Zychowski said five years ago, due to concerns of mold in a nearby school district, he decided to take out an additional $1 million policy for North Brunswick. The initial coverage was only up to $100,000, he said.
Outdoor sports continued during the week at NBTHS, but students will have to make up the missed school days. Zychowski said the Board of Education will soon approve how to compensate for those missed days in a manner “least intrusive to everyone’s planned schedules as possible.”
Zychowski thanked the community for its continued support.
“We would not jeopardize the health and safety of our staff and students. We had to ensure the examinations … came back clean,” he said.
The superintendent said the other five schools in the district were tested, with no signs of mold showing.
Contact Jennifer Amato at jamato@newspapermediagroup.com.
