Middle Township Elementary No. 1 District photo

COURT HOUSE -- The Herald has received reports that mold was found in a pre-K classroom in Middle Township Elementary School No.1.

According to parents, the classroom, which houses 4 and 5-year-olds, was cleaned Thur., Jan. 12 after a "serious" mold problem was found.

An inspection of the building was performed by an independent air quality company after mold was found in several first-grade classrooms in the main building in early December. Clean up of those classrooms was initially performed by the district's custodial staff; however additional mold was found in a classroom after it had been cleaned.

"Air quality specialists spent the entire day at No. 1," said school superintendent Michael Kopakowski at a Dec. 15 school board meeting. "The testing included air sampling and surface sampling."   A report of the findings was sent to the school district.

Results of that inspection have not been made public. The Herald has requested a copy of that  report.  According to district solicitor Amy Houck, the report is not being made available to the public because it contains "advisory, consultative or deliberative material."

The Herald has filed a request to obtain the report under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) last week. The request was sent by fax and United States mail. Multiple calls to both Kopakowski and the board secretary's office inquiring as to the status of the request were not returned.

Remediation of the mold problem was performed by the Lancaster, Pa.-based firm of Paul Davis. Removal took place Dec. 27 through Jan. 1 when the school was closed for the holiday.

A special meeting of the Board of Education was held Jan. 6 where resolutions were passed to transfer monies to pay for the remediation, as well as follow-up testing. Over $122,000 was moved, including $10,000 for post-remediation testing.

According to Kopakowski, testing was completed before school was reopened Jan. 2.

"The entire school is now clean," said the superintendent. "The levels of the building are acceptable for occupancy."

Testing of the remediated building was performed Jan. 3 and 4. The final report of that testing was due back this week.

According to Houck at the Jan. 6 meeting,  a special meeting of the board will be called after receipt of the final testing report to discuss its findings.

The regular monthly meeting of the Middle Township Board of Education is scheduled Thur., Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the District Administration building, 216 S. Main Street.