School in Yonkers forced to close after mold found in ceiling tiles
YONKERS, Westchester County (WABC) -- A public school in Yonkers will continue to be closed on Wednesday after positive testing for mold in sections of the building.
Paideia School 15 will be shut down for mold remediation and students will be redirected to neighboring schools on Thursday, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Edwin M. Quezada announced.
The school was evacuated Monday afternoon following the discovery that ceiling tiles in sections of the school had tested positive for mold. District officials say the problem is a leaky roof in the 20-year-old building.
The building is under negative air pressure with HEPA filters running non-stop.
"At the same time we're removing pieces of sheetrock and other things that look suspect with water damage that otherwise lead us to believe there could be mold behind them," said Yonkers Schools Facilities Director John Carr.
The building services approximately 576 students in grades pre-K through 8 along with 84 faculty and administrative staff.
On Thursday, students in grades pre-K through 4 will report to the Dodson School. Students in grades 5 - 8 will relocate to Roosevelt High School.
"Unfortunately our district and our community does not have a lot of space where we can move close to 600 students," said Quezada. "We don't have that space in any of our schools for the most part, and we do not have the space unfortunately in any other facilities around our city."
Air and bulk samples of drop ceiling tiles were conducted over the weekend after spotting was noticed on some classroom ceilings, school officials said. Approximately a quarter of the samples taken tested positive for mold.
The students were evacuated Monday to Annunciation School on Westchester Avenue.
The goal is to have the remediation and repair work done this week and the school reopened by next Monday. However district officials acknowledge it could go on longer than that and they will be monitoring the progress each day.
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