CHARLOTTE -- UPDATE: Officials with Chartlotte-Mecklenburg Schools met with parents on Wednesday night to address ongoing concerns about mold at Providence High School.
According to to superintendent, Dr. Clayton M. Wilcox, there have been no signs of serious mold found at Providence High School, and a test done by the school revealed only a small amount of "spore" content that the school system is monitoring.
However, during the meeting, it was revealed that only the main building was tested for mold, and not in every room. Buildings such as the gym and auditorium have not been checked.
Many parents remain concerned, after pictures circled social media and children started to become ill back in September.
But one teacher adressed concerns saying that students might just be letting mold that isn't actually there go to their heads.
Previously Reported:
Some parents at a Providence High School in Charlotte are taking to social media to voice their concerns about a possible mold issue.
Parents are posting on the "NextDoor" app, saying students at Providence High School have been getting sick at school.
This all started with a post on the app on Dec. 13. Since the post was published, dozens of parents have commented saying their children have also gotten sick, and they think it's because of mold.
One parent posted "One friend took her son out of school because of how sick he would become every time he was in the classroom."
Another post reads "My son was there three years and suffered terribly with asthma, which our doctors said was directly related to the mold at the school."
After more than a hundred posts and comments, Dr. Clayton Wilcox, the CMS Superintendent, said steps are being taken to keep students safe.
"We've had some environmental testing done in the facility, we're going to have some additional testing done in the coming days, and then we'll come up with an action plan to address that," Dr. Wilcox said. "But right now, we don't have any evidence that there's mold or that kids are in any way in harms way."
The principal of Providence High School sent an email to parents. The full statement can be seen below:
Dear Providence Families:
I wanted to provide follow-up information regarding recent concerns about a possible air-quality issue at school. A few parents have specifically asked about mold. Environmental Specialists have inspected every classroom, closet, storage room, etc. No mold accumulation has been found at Providence. CMS follows the protocol recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This protocol does not recommend testing for mold since mold is naturally found within the environment, our homes, etc. The EPA recommendation is that if mold growth is visible, sampling is unnecessary since there are no EPA, state or local threshold limits set for mold or mold spores. As the EPA explains, “The key to mold control is moisture control.”
Therefore, the initial step at Providence was to contract with a third-party vendor to conduct an assessment for moisture, humidity, carbon monoxide, temperature, etc. As I informed you earlier this week, the results from the third-party vendor show that all areas fell within the normal rage and show “no evidence of current or previous moisture or debris accumulation.”
Our superintendent, in an effort to go above and beyond the recommendations of the EPA, has been clear that additional testing will be done to make sure we have covered all bases. CMS has contracted with another third-party vendor to conduct sampling, which will include mold spore sampling. Once we have those results, I will update you on any further actions being taken.