Plano ISD trustees heard a detailed bond-program update and an account of an indoor-air-quality response at Murphy Middle School during the board's Oct. 21 meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Therese Williams said district staff first received concerning indoor-air test results for Murphy on Oct. 3 and immediately began remediation work. The district moved learning online during the remediation window and used fall-break and targeted weekend work to reduce disruption, Williams said. She told the board the environmental firm certified the campus as cleared on Oct. 14, staff returned later that week and students returned on the following Monday.

Tony Pearson, director of new construction, gave the board a multi-campus bond progress report that covered completed work (32 projects finished since June) and projects in design or construction at senior highs and middle schools. He described ongoing work at multiple campuses including Pearson, Centennial, Vines, Clark and Haggard and said the athletic addition and storm-shelter work at Plano Senior High is expected to continue into 2026.

Williams described the Murphy timeline in detail: initial spot testing in March 2024 found only common, low-level mold traces and normal results; a larger round of testing in early October found higher indoor-than-outdoor mold spore counts in about a dozen classrooms from a roughly 63-location diagnostic survey. As a precaution and to limit disruption, the district paused on-campus learning, contracted remediation according to an industry protocol, deep-cleaned HVAC equipment and mechanical components, and conducted follow-up tests before re‑opening. She said the district began remediation within hours of learning the full results and that the remediation included cleaning HVAC coils, addressing control components and treating affected interior surfaces.

Pearson and Williams told the board they are reviewing preventive-maintenance schedules and staffing deployments. Williams said facilities leadership plans to redesign some work-order review processes, increase professional development for trades staff, and seek vendor partnerships to augment in-house capacity. Jason Wink (facility insight lead), Blake Vaughn (interim executive director of facilities) and Manuel Rodriguez (IPM coordinator) were identified as the staff leading remediation and follow-up work.

Pearson also said district leadership is accelerating some projects and consolidating scopes where possible so major HVAC work is combined with other campus improvements to reduce repeated disruptions. He noted the transportation fueling-station schedule must be settled before issuing the transportation-building renovation for bid.

Board members asked for more regular maintenance metrics and a separate quarterly report on maintenance, work-order backlogs and the Facility Insight asset catalog the district is building. Williams said that effort is underway and staff expect a fuller update by November or December and broader delivery by 2027.

The board was told the district currently has multiple trade-area vacancies — Williams said about 19 openings in trade positions — and staff are exploring recruitment, apprenticeship and partnership options to improve capacity.

The presentation included drone and site photos of active bond projects and a timeline of upcoming contractor recommendations for kitchens, playgrounds and tracks. No board vote was required on the remediation itself; staff described actions taken as operational responses and described planned administrative adjustments to maintenance protocols.