Jim Thorpe Area School District officials say it could be at least another week to 10 days — and possibly longer — before students and staff can return to Penn Kidder Campus, as testing continues following a mothball chemical incident that forced the school’s evacuation last month.

Interim Superintendent Thomas Lesisko told parents at Wednesday night’s school board meeting that two additional rounds of air quality tests are planned to ensure the building is safe before reopening.

“We are now looking at a third phase of testing that will happen next week,” he said. “Then, as we discussed with our project manager from the lab, there will be a fourth phase of testing to ensure that this chemical is out of the building.”

Lesisko said the district would not rush the process.

“Even if the tests come out in the next round that everything’s fine, we want to run one more test to really make sure everything is fine,” she said. “Our levels have been elevated at different points … so it’s probably going to easily be another week to 10 days.”

The Penn Kidder campus has been closed since Sept. 23, when the odor of mothballs was discovered inside the building. Officials later determined that an employee had placed mothballs in several locations throughout the building to deter mice. The chemical vapors were drawn into the ventilation system and circulated throughout the building.

Students in grades K-5 are currently attending classes at L.B. Morris Elementary while sixth through eighth graders are at Jim Thorpe High School.

An initial round of testing earlier this month found five rooms with elevated levels of para-dichlorobenzene, one of the two chemicals commonly found in mothballs. The other chemical, naphthalene, was not detected.

“Five of those samples came back inconsistent,” Lesisko said. “Some were very high, some were lower, close to what we consider the acceptable and safe level. We retested again, and all the levels came down, but they were still above what they should be — 2.2 micrograms per cubic meter.”

That standard, he said, is based on residential guidelines rather than industrial ones “because it’s children.” Subsequent testing has shown improvement, but not yet clearance.

“The highest number was 42 in one room, and that dropped down to 3.7,” he said. “The results keep showing decrease, decrease, decrease.”

Twelve charcoal air filters are currently running throughout the first floor, pulling in and cleaning the air 24 hours a day.

“They pull in the air from the room,” Lesisko said. “They’re charcoal filters that absorb chemicals, and that air is then exited from the building through tubing.”

The samples are being analyzed at a laboratory in Knoxville, Tennessee.

“Once the samples are taken, it takes 24 hours to get them to the lab,” Lesisko said. “The lab wants three days to do their analysis and to give us something accurate. I realize how frustrating this could be. It’s so much out of our control, but we’re trying to do the right thing to make it safe for everybody to go back into that building.”

Accountability, communication

Several parents at Wednesday’s meeting said the incident and its aftermath left families without clear communication or confidence in the district’s plans.

Kristy Martin, who has a first- and fourth-grader, said the situation “was not out of the district’s control.”

“Someone chose to put mothballs in the ventilation system,” she said. “It was in your control. You should have a contingency plan in place for when things like this happen.”

Martin said her children are “scared” and “tired,” and she urged the board to focus on education as well as air quality.

“When I ask my daughter what she learned today, she says, ‘I don’t know,’” Martin said. “What plan do you have in place if this fails again?”

Lesisko confirmed that the mothballs were placed “by an employee,” adding “we are investigating that, and that’s its own separate issue.”

Parents also described overcrowded temporary classrooms at L.B. Morris Elementary, where Penn Kidder’s younger students are now housed.

“The entire first grade is in the library,” she said, with as many as “60 to 70 students” in one space. “You’re expecting 6-year-olds to sit there and have the mental capacity to hold all that in.”

Holly Mourdant, Penn Kidder principal, said teachers are maintaining core instruction despite the challenges.

“On Monday, I asked my teachers to go back to last year’s plans and make sure the key concepts and information that were taught last year are still being covered,” she said. “Teachers are sending us lists each week of what they need so they can continue their regular curriculum.”

Rumors, long-term plans

District leaders also addressed rumors circulating on social media about mold, rodents and testing.

“There is no black mold that we’re aware of,” Lesisko said. “There is no mice infestation in the building that we’re aware of. The mothballs shouldn’t have been placed there, but they were. Right now the key is getting the air fresh.”

Lesisko said the board had discussed other options before deciding to send students to Jim Thorpe’s two other existing schools.

“If anyone thought this was long term, yes, there were other possibilities,” he said. “We looked at places like Memorial Hall (in Jim Thorpe) and the Galleria (at Split Rock), but that would require bringing food, security and teachers there without resources. We’re trying to keep students in buildings with the least disruption possible.”

Several parents said they would have appreciated hearing those options earlier. “When I say full transparency, I mean, tell us, ‘Listen, this isn’t ideal. These are our options. These are the things we’re looking at,’” Martin said. “We heard nothing, and the rumor mill went insane.”

Lesisko urged parents to check the district’s website, which he said contains a “facts page” with updates, and to contact him directly. “Please call me or email me,” he said. “Some parents have, and I can give you as much as we have.”

Evacuation concerns

Parents also questioned how the district handled the initial evacuation on Sept. 23. Several said they received less than 20 minutes’ notice to pick up their children.

Leigh Zakutansky, who has a third grader, said her first text message came at 9:30 a.m.

“That the smell was detected, and the students were outside,” she said. “Then at 10:15 we got another text message saying the students were going to be dismissed at 10:30. It was panic-inducing for a lot of parents who have little kids.”

Lesisko said he made the call to send students home quickly.

“I wanted to get students and staff away from the building because we didn’t really know what we were dealing with,” he said. “It was too short of notice, and I wish that didn’t happen, but we had to get them away from the building.”

Figura said the district would review its emergency plans.

“In hindsight, is it the best idea to drop a second grader off in a development a mile away from their house? No,” she said. “We’ve sat down and debriefed about how things could have been done better and what we’ll do in the future.”