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Students at Lakehurst Elementary School will begin the 2018-2019 school year in borrowed classroom space, evicted from their home school by potentially hazardous mold that was discovered last week.
Lakehurst Superintendent Loren Fuhring said during a special Board of Education meeting Wednesday night that the school could not be cleaned and reopened on time for classes next week.
“At this point it is not safe to open the school building,” she told about 100 parents and teachers who packed the Lakehurst Community Center. “So we will be closed until, we’re looking at after November, particularly Monday, Nov. 12. The plan is to start school on time.”
The district will provide busing to get students to temporary classroom space at St. John’s Church in Lakehurst and schools in Manchester. Many details are still being worked out, and more information will be sent to parents and posted on the school website in the next several days, Fuhring said.
Fuhring estimated the cost of cleaning the school and replacing equipment and furniture at $1 million.
At least five schools in Ocean County have been recently affected by mold, potentially threatening to delay school.
Even as cleaning crews have worked to solve the problems reported last week in Brick and Stafford, an additional school in Brick and Lakewood are now affected.
Officials have blamed high temperatures, heavy rain and humidity in recent weeks for mold that has appeared in the schools. Heavy rain recently flooded another neighborhood in Brick, see more in the video at the top of this story.
Among those schools affected by mold are:
• Brick: Surface mold was growing in six classrooms in one area of the building at Lake Riviera Middle School. District Superintendent Gerard Dalton said the school was being cleaned and would be tested again Thursday.
• Brick: Officials said Emma Havens Young Elementary has been cleaned of mold and would open on schedule.
• Lakewood: The district has put out a request to hire a company to perform mold remediation at Ella G. Clarke Elementary School. District officials said Wednesday the mold was in the basement, where there are no vents that would move the air into the rest of the building. The school is expected to open on time.
• Stafford: Cleaning at McKinley Avenue Elementary is expected to be completed by Friday, according to the latest statement from officials.
Source: App News
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