SOUTH HADLEY -  The South Hadley Public Schools have continued their efforts to address and remediate mold in the high school, which has delayed the school year for students and staffs in the building.

South Hadley High School (SHHS)_was forced to delay the start of in-person learning due to a “white/black” substance found in the school. The substance was located only two days before the beginning of the school year. School Committee members and parents expressed their concern over this closure at the most recent School Committee meeting on Sept. 2.

One parent, Dodie Haber, said that she feels parents need to be given more information about the growing substance and when they can expect school to begin.

“My comment and what I'm feeling is just wanting information about the high school opening and what's being done and just more information than what we've been given in an email. I know there's a lot of upset parents, teachers and we've been through a lot in the last couple of years. This is the worst icing on the cake,” said Haber.

Elementary and middle school students were able to start in-person learning normally.

Superintendent Jahmal Mosley said that they are taking the substance very seriously, investigating and that he appreciates the support and patience from the community.

“I also would like to acknowledge that it has been a challenge at the high school. The staff have been great, South Hadley Education Association and the administrators have been dealt a really difficult hand and we've all worked together to try to work through this,” said Mosley.

Since the meeting, an official report came out that showed there are 13 areas inside South Hadley High School that tested positive for mold. Twenty total locations were tested. The positive locations consisted of mold inside a blower, desk, door frame, cabinet, locker, sink counter, wall, floor and computer room air handler.

In an update given by Mosley on Sept. 7, he said the district would now be looking into different locations for in-person learning given the severity of the situation.

Possible locations could include the MassMutual Center, Elms College, the Holyoke Mall, Holyoke Community College, Colbert Realty, area public school districts, various religious facilities such as St. Theresa's Church, and community centers. Portable classrooms are another option. However, as of press time, no alternative learning spaces had been selected by the district, Mosley told Reminder Publishing.

Mosley said that the state will not be allowing remote learning for this situation at this time. In his update, Mosley said that he is working with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to come to an agreement on how to resolve missed school days as a result of the mold.

He said that the district will be using Service Master Restore as its primary cleaning and mitigation provider. Cleaning has already begun, which includes scrubbers and dehumidifiers running continuously, and Mosley said there will be more updates to come.

Those interested in viewing the School Committee in its entirety are encouraged to visit the South Hadley Community Television website. Future updates on the situation can be viewed on the South Hadley Public Schools website at https://www.southhadleyschools.org/.

The South Hadley Public Schools hosted informational sessions on Sept. 9 and 11, which allowed members of the community to ask questions they have had.

Mosely told Reminder Publishing he felt it was an “overall, nice first step,” which allowed for open dialogue and questions to be answered.

He said “the public had been emailing and reaching out,” and the district was “trying to gather questions and answers and put it together in a comprehensive way,” so it could be “put in a way questions can be answered.”

He said while he couldn't speak for DESE with regard to emergency remote learning, he would “continue to advocate for what's best for South Hadley.”            

He said, “I'm hoping that we can get the mold removed ASAP and kids back to class.” Mosley added that as the process continued, the district would continue “making sure that conversation and process continues to be updated.”

In updated documents posted to the South Hadley Public Schools website, the results of the test for the “white/black substance” found growing on the walls and furniture of the South Hadley High School (SHHS) indicated the substance was, in fact, mold. Mosley confirmed it was three types of mold. According to the report done by ServiceMaster Recovery Management, the removal of mold will take place in 69 classrooms, six bathrooms, hallways, storage areas, locker rooms, a guidance suite, cafeterias, kitchens, the faculty dining area, the Tiger's Den, the library, the main office suite, the teacher's room, the nurse's room, the boiler room and the music storage.

The total cost of the work is estimated to be $767,928.11, however, the cost estimation does not include mold removal from the gym and auditorium or the replacement of any materials that were required to be removed from the SHHS. Also not included in the cost estimate was the service contract for air testing, which was going to be provided by the company Atlas/ATC.

Students and staff are scheduled to return to the building, pending “successful test results,” during the week of Sept. 20 to 24. During this time cleaning would move to the auditorium and gymnasium, which would be sealed off to the rest of the school to avoid any potential contamination.