Superintendent Barbara Malkas stands in a corridor last week outside a Brayton classroom that had to be mitigated for mold. On Tuesday, she reported that another room in the below-grade floor had to be treated for mildew.
Brayton Elementary Classrooms Treated for Mold, Mildew
Mayor Jennifer Macksey and Facilities Director Robert Flaherty on Wednesday pull up the carpeting in the first-floor classroom at Brayton recently treated for mildew. Classes start on Thursday.
Update: per Superintendent Barbara Malkad via Facebook, "Today [Aug. 28] we removed all items from the room where the mildew on the equipment was found. The walls were inspected - no mold or mildew was found. The rug was pulled up - no mold was found on the floor underneath or the underside of the carpeting. The only mildew found was on equipment used in the OT/PT room. This equipment was cleaned again and dried outside. With that said the floor is still going to be replaced and the walls painted with mildew resistant paint. All classroom spaces will be tested in the coming days, but I want reiterate that no other classroom has had any mildew reported or seen upon inspection.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Brayton Elementary School has been dealing with mold and mildew in more than one classroom.
Superintendent Barbara Malkas had explained during a tour of the school last Thursday as part of a Greylock project forum that mold was found in one classroom over the summer and how it was mitigated. On Tuesday, she told the School Committee that mildew had also been discovered in another first-floor room earlier in the month.
"When our teachers, who are here tonight, our [occupational therapists] and [physical therapists], came in, there was mildew covering several pieces of equipment and other items that they use in their practice," she said.
The space was one of two rooms used for music that have no windows. It had more recently been used as storage but reassigned for therapists to use when the school switched to house Grades prekindergarten through 2.
Malkas said she was notified on Aug. 9 and alerted the facilities department. Cleanup was put on the priority list and everything was wiped down with bleach last week.
"That room had the same treatment in terms of the mildew resistant paint and having the rugs that are there, it's a carpeted room, shampooed," the superintendent said as the rest of the first floor.
The room with the mold had been mitigated some five years ago as well, used for storage and more recently for special education and the Steeples program.
"Everything had to be taken out of the room. Everything had to be disinfected, then a mildew resistant paint had to be used and the carpeting removed from the floor in order to put in tiling," she said. "That got us to to an air quality that was acceptable, and we've not had an issue with mold since then."
There's concern about the carpeting in the former choral room and Malkas said she is getting a price on having that removed and the room tiled, too.
Parents were notified that "due to intense heat and humidity this past summer, we've seen an increase in mildew, especially in one classroom that lacks windows" and that an "aggressive" remediation plan was in place.
The problems lie largely in the first floor being subterranean with few or no windows in the classrooms. Dehumidifiers have been brought in and the air handlers opened up to increase fresh airflow by 75 percent.
"So we know the current problem that's going to require constant mitigation," the superintendent said.
"What we don't have the capacity to do is to address some of the infrastructure issues of the building, which is mainly the HVAC, the electrical system, the fact that there's a need for a roof here as well, there's concrete spalling here as well, and so we will do everything within our power to make that room accessible and usable by our staff."
If the mildew persists, space will have to be found for the programming elsewhere or move forward with changing the carpet during the school year. The therapists have been "good advocates for their students" and "incredibly patient" while the mitigation was happening.
"I think because of their flexibility and adaptability, it's worth us doing it now so that we can create a better learning environment for our students," Malkas said.
In response to questions, she hoped to get a rough estimate as soon as Wednesday and then determine if funding is available.
"So even a new build with the best of the best of the best is having something like this ... I think it's just an ongoing situation with climate change and the topography of the area," he said. "I want to make sure that that's clarified out there that we're dealing with this head on with what we have and what we know."
Vice Chair Richard Alcombright asked if testing is continuing. Malkas said it would be an added cost that would have to be brought forward to the School Committee.
"Last week, when we were touring the building, and I have to, you know, be very honest here, that was one classroom I didn't open the door," Malkas said. "I didn't I didn't even think of it because I knew about the old mitigation in the other room, so I wanted to make sure people heard about that. ...
"We really weren't aware that it would be as much of an issue as it has become."
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School Officials Review Brayton Issues in School Project Info Session
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
The city is proposing a $65 million new Greylock School to replace Brayton and the current Greylock schools.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The halls of Brayton Elementary School are ready for students — the tile floors are shining, the carpets freshly shampooed, the walls painted and the classrooms in stages of preparation.
It's a far cry from 70-year-old Greylock Elementary, which feels tired and dingy and decaying.
But officials say Brayton's bright and clean exterior hides infrastructure issues that will take millions to fix.
"Nice big spaces, lots of storage. Those were the things they were thinking about as this school was being built," said Superintendent Barbara Malkas to a group of 40 or so who took a tour of the building. She noted the layout was very "industrial" and not conducive to the needs of the prekindergarten through Grade 2 children in the building.
"The grade reconfiguration allowed us to use more of the space here, but you'll see when we go downstairs, we have a lot of classrooms that are going to end up becoming storage because they're subterranean and they do not have any windows."
The tour of Brayton last week was the second information session held by school officials for the new Greylock School project. Voters will decide on a debt exclusion in October that would allow the $65 million project to move forward and replace the 30-year-old Brayton and the now closed old Greylock. The cost to the city will be about $20 million.
The most pressing issues at Brayton are the heating, ventilation and air conditioning and the need for a stable climate throughout the school; the lack of a sprinkler system (not required when the school was built); electrical system upgrades; natural light; and security issues. With the relocation of the prekindergarten to Brayton, there's also a need for size-appropriate accessible bathrooms.
Last Thursday night was the first of two forums being held to inform the public about the Greylock School project for Grades kindergarten through 2. The next will be this Thursday at 6 p.m. at Brayton Elementary School.
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A typical day at camp starts off with some music theory. The group will work on different scales and study different chords that are later applied to an arrangement where students can improvise.
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