Pleasant Valley, Panther Valley, Tamaqua Area and Northwestern Lehigh school districts all had to clean up mold in 2018.

The most significant mold issue was found in the Pleasant Valley schools. Pleasant Valley Intermediate School required a massive cleanup to the tune of more than $1 million. In addition to the surface mold cleanup at PVI, the high school had several rooms affected, as well as the library.

Pleasant Valley notified parents and staff of the issues a few days before the start of the school year and delayed the general opening for the district by one day. PVI remained closed while the cleanup took place.

The mold remediation contractor, Belfor Property Restorations, estimated the cleanup to take between 14 and 21 days and to cost $1.2 million. During that time, the intermediate and Pleasant Valley Elementary students shared the elementary building on a two-day rotation schedule.

All district buildings were remediated and operating normally by Sept. 5.

A Hillman Consulting LLC spokesman told the board in September that the HVAC system design, coupled with the heavy summer rains and humidity, was the cause of the mold issues at PVI.

The school board has approved a payment of $977,000 for the PVI cleanup, but final bills for the high school and Hillman Consulting have not yet been approved.

Northwestern Lehigh School District discovered an issue with mold in the lower wing of the middle school in August. The district delayed the start of the school year by one day to fully assess the problem.

“While I fully understand the inconvenience this causes you and your family,” district Superintendent Jennifer Holman wrote on the district’s website. “Please know that we are focused on safety.”

The middle school did not reopen until Sept. 4 when the students were moved to other district buildings. The sixth and seventh grades were housed at Weisenberg Elementary School and the eighth-grade students were moved to Northwestern Lehigh High School.

The middle school was reopened on Sept. 19.

The Tamaqua Area School District announced on Aug. 22 that West Penn Elementary School would remain closed due to “excess moisture inside the building.”

The district delayed the start of the school year by one day and rerouted West Penn students to Tamaqua Elementary and Tamaqua Area Middle School instead.

The Panther Valley School District is continuing to deal with mold issues. In October, the district announced that it had hired Datcom Products Inc. of Dunmore to conduct “environmental mold assessment” testing inside of the elementary school.

The report to the school board stated that “no unusual odors or visible fungal growths noted at that time.”

Air quality testing conducted on Dec. 3 showed elevated mold levels in two classrooms at the Panther Valley Junior/Senior High School. The affected classrooms were closed and scheduled for remediation before the holiday break.

All of the districts have taken steps to avoid similar problems. Custodians and staff throughout the districts have been instructed on how to visually spot mold problems.