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Maintenance reports low mold readings at Bates; district outlines bond project statuses including Maywood and Crestwood updates
Summary
Maintenance reported low mold levels in tested rooms at Bates and other schools; facilities staff summarized the status of bond-funded capital projects including the completed Maywood Field House work (cleaning pending) and ongoing Crestwood athletic field and window replacement projects.
District maintenance and environmental contractors updated the board on Feb. 25 about mold testing and ongoing capital projects funded by previous bonds.
Chris Cato, the district environmental/maintenance presenter, said recent retesting found no “unusual mold levels” in rooms at Bates Middle School, and that prior concerns at the Ebenezer girls locker room and select Lakewood classrooms have been remediated or retested with acceptable results. Cato said some older carpet at Oakland Room 117 shows ground‑moisture staining; the district plans to remove the old carpet, install a moisture barrier and replace the floor with PVC tile to reduce humidity intrusion.
Cato explained technicians compare indoor readings to ambient outdoor counts and that typical cleaned rooms measure roughly 1,200 mold spores per cubic meter or lower; the tested classrooms cited in the presentation had low indoor counts (several examples were in the tens to low hundreds). He said the district used independent laboratories (EMSL/EML and others) for testing and that remediation and antimicrobial repainting have been applied where appropriate.
On capital projects, CFO Systega Spearman presented a multi‑year bond status summary. Key updates: the Maywood Field House project (2018 bond coding) has completed construction and awaits final cleaning and a small contractor caulking item; the Hillcrest stadium renovation (2020 bond) is complete; window replacements (2021 bond) will begin next week at several schools with vendor deliveries pending, and the Crestwood athletic field press box and bleacher grading are installed with sidewalks complete. Spearman said some previously budgeted items may have unspent balances and asked for board direction on reallocating remaining funds.
Trustees raised timing and equity questions, including whether routine maintenance and proactive inspections are logged consistently in the district’s SchoolDude work‑order system. Cato said principals are expected to report issues through SchoolDude and call maintenance for emergent mold concerns; maintenance staff emphasized that building age, historic construction methods and ground‑moisture intrusion are recurrent factors.
Ending: The board asked for a bond‑funds summary organized by fund code and a clear remaining‑balance report; staff agreed to provide the per‑fund breakdown and a proposed path for reallocation of leftover bond dollars, and to continue periodic environmental testing where concerns arise.
