by Jackson Miller and Leyla Alexander-Genculu

An outbreak of mold has beset the freshman hallway of Chamblee High School.   

From room 101 to room 112, evidence of mold growth has been confirmed in the floor tiles. DeKalb County sent a hazardous materials team to resolve the problem, cleaning the tiles and fixing the school’s air conditioning on the night of September 3rd. Although this action sufficiently dealt with all present concerns, the threat of a mold reoccurrence still looms.

“The mold and mildew problem right now, is taken care of,” said assistant principal of student/teacher support Rick Blitz.

Attention to this issue is rooted from student and teacher complaints. In certain classes affected by the occurrence, almost half the class would show common cold symptoms on any given day. Teachers also feared students spreading the mold by way of their feet.

“I am worried that my students will end up tracking mold off the floor into their homes,” said Chaffraix Rowles, who teaches in room 110.

The notion of the mold revisiting has not been de-bunked. Mold originates from moisture and heat, which a broken air conditioning unit and open windows helped produce in Chamblee’s case. With proper air flow, no new mold will be able to form. However, with the absence of a mold killing product, remains of the mold will likely linger.

“I hope the mold doesn’t come back but there is no way to predict that,” said Blitz. “We’ll do everything we can to prevent mold but whenever you have water, you have a possibility of mold.”

Despite the attempts of some officials to claim the visible substance was actually glue, administrators have verified that a majority of the areas in question were indeed mold. The edges of the floor tiles overflowed with glue, while the interior of the squares was dotted with spots of mold. In addition to mold growing out of the tiles, others have made accusations about some of the ceiling tiles containing mold as well.

“If all the spots on the tiles were just glue, then the tiles would not stick to the ground,” said Akeisha Turner, who teaches in room 112. Corresponding to the mold matter is another health concern involving dangerous levels of carbon dioxide. With an overcrowded student population and improper ventilation, carbon dioxide levels rose above safe levels, adding another reason for a rapid tune-up of the Chamblee’s air conditioning. In rare cases, the two problems can intertwine.

“My problem has been that mold was in the air conditioning unit and kept it from working,” said Leisa Scoggins, who teaches in room 101.