CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Schools officials hope to have Capital High School open Monday following clean-up efforts this week because of mold and elevated levels of carbon dioxide.
Mold was found in 60 of Capital High’s 188 classrooms according to air quality test results, forcing the cancellation of classes.
Terry Hollandsworth, executive director of maintenance for Kanawha County Schools, said all the rooms except for the auditorium have been cleaned as of Thursday evening.
“Of course, the contractors focused on the rooms that had elevated mold in it,” he said. “We had the custodians going through the other rooms just to go ahead and clear everything.”
Hollandsworth said there likely wasn’t one source for the mold, but rather multiple points from where the problem began.
“It wasn’t just one little thing,” he said. “We found some mold on the fresh air dampers, and we’re getting those fixed to get some fresh air into the rooms.”
Hollandsworth added air quality tests should be finalized in the upcoming days, with an announcement about opening the school coming possibly as late as Sunday.
“We’ve already taken air samples from 80 percent of the building,” he added. “We’ll be finishing that up tomorrow.”
Pinnacle Environmental is taking the air samples from the institution.