Middle School Mold Impact Remains Unclear

Manchester school officials are still waiting for word from an environmental consulting company on how the discovery of mold in the Middle School will impact the facility's opening this September. The building was evacuated of full time staff after the mold was spotted in several areas of the lower level last week.

Schools Superintendent David Trethway says they probably won't know anything more until the middle of the week. He believes the extreme summer temperatures contributed to its growth. "It's kind of the perfect storm where you have such high humidity. We have air-conditioning in the building that's going off and on. So you get that humidity and the condensation builds up that's kind of the incubator for some mold."

Trethaway says the impact of the mold could be anywhere from several weeks to several months. "So, I don't want to even hazard a guess. Once we get a little bit more information. The middle or the end of this week we'll probably have an idea what kind of impact we're having." However, he says they have a couple of scenerios in place when it comes to contingency plans if the facility should require a longer than expected remediation process.

He says there were no summer classes in session at the time of the discovery and no students in the building. He says their first priority remains the health and safety of the staff and students.

Trethaway says they were able to communicate to some of the parents during a 6th grade orientation session held at the High School Monday