Greg Hook, ABSS Chief Operations Officer, reviewed some background information about mold in the schools. He mentioned that mold was first found at Andrews and Newlin Elementary Schools. He said over the past six weeks they had worked to assess the situation and had hired remediation and testing crews to develop short-term fixes and long-term solutions.
Mr. Hook said during the emergency meeting on August 4th, the Board of Education had authorized the use of $1.2 million from paygo funds to address the urgent issues of mold at Andrews and Newlin Elementary Schools. Dr. Dain Butler, ABSS Superintendent, had every school checked for mold before they would allow students back in. The County Commissioners had agreed to reallocate $17 million in funding to help get the children back into the schools. He explained after they had found toxic mold in 10 schools, the school system delayed the opening of the schools to September 11th. Mr. Hook said as of that morning, 29 schools were undergoing mold remediation. He shared they were up to 16 campuses where they had found toxigenic mold which would require additional funding to correct. Mr. Hook said in order to be transparent the school system had created a Mold Remediation Dashboard on the website to inform the taxpayers of how they have handled the situation. He informed them they had over 2,000 contractors working in the schools to remedy the crisis.
Commissioner Lashley said they received over 100 emails on this subject. He asked how had this happened, and was the system shut off during the summer. Mr. Hook responded the HVAC system was set to go off during the weekends and evenings. He continued on July 1st the system would run around the clock.
Vice-Chair Carter called on Ben Bass, Builder Services of North Carolina, to address the issue of other schools in North Carolina with the same problems. Ben Bass said the county was not alone, it just got this all at one time. He continued that most of the time other school districts faced one wing or building instead of 30-plus buildings at one time.
Chairman Paisley asked how soon would the schools be in a condition that they could safely send the students and teachers back into the schools. Mr. Bass answered this coming Monday. He said he had two crews working 24 hours a day in two shifts. He said the Board would have a clearance report for every school.
Mr. Bass said that the HVAC systems had the immediate need to be addressed, not the roofs. He gave an update on costs. He noted the schools that were known about added $1.27 million in rough order of magnitude (ROM). Those were additional areas that the Indoor Environmental Professional (IEP) found or received a report from the IEP that stated what was needed. The additional ROMs reports that increased:
Alexander Wilson Elementary $75,000
E.M. Holt Elementary School $170,000
Highland Elementary School $520,000
Southern Alamance High School $120,000
Southern Middle School $120,000
Sylvan Elementary School $265,000
He continued these were additional costs they found that weekend from the IEP reports:
Eastern Alamance High School $365,000
Eastlawn Elementary School $170,000
Graham High School $360,000
Haw River Elementary School $180,000
Woodlawn Middle School $255,000
Ray Street Academy (would not know the cost until after the meeting)
North Graham Elementary School (would not know the cost until after the meeting)
Commissioner Turner said he needed a specific list for every school that has been allocated, what has been done at each school, and what has been redone. He also needed information on what was the county fiduciary duty. Dr. Butler responded they had a list that the school had used. He would add more information to the list as to the amount of money and where it came from. Dr. Butler agreed with Mr. Bass this would get them back in school. He commented that based on the conversation they had about the severity of the schools, they had a bigger challenge ahead. Commissioner Turner said last week’s focus was scope and severity, and getting the children back into the schools. He said the second phase would be to lay the groundwork for prevention. Commissioner Turner stated they needed to have a meeting to put all of the data together.
Commissioner Thompson commented they needed to make things right and work together. She appreciated all who had come to the table and worked through it. Commissioner Thompson reiterated that prevention was cheaper than intervention.
Dr. Butler addressed air conditioning being off in the summer. He said previous school boards did that to save money. He explained that ABSS made a bad decision back in 2008. He said since July 1, 2023, the air conditioning and heating had been running. Dr. Butler said his priority for this meeting was to discuss the amount of funds needed by Mr. Bass to get the job done. He suggested at the next joint meeting they would discuss what the exceptions would be for the future.
Commissioner Turner commented he had looked into the numbers and allocations for each school. He said he was completely lost about the scope and severity of the mold and remediation issues required for each school that they talked about. He continued he needed a spreadsheet with the numbers that were talked about that day. Chairman Paisley agreed that a spreadsheet was a good idea because he felt that the numbers were constantly changing. Susan Evans, Finance Officer, commented she would liked to review the numbers before they reconvened because several of the numbers that Mr. Bass gave were projects that had been approved at Friday’s meeting. She agreed with the amount of the $1.6 million for the six schools, but the HAVCs numbers were an additional $1.3 million. She said more discussion was needed. Dr. Butler said he could confirm the numbers. He indicated his priority was the new projects that were not approved on Friday, the new schools that needed full or partial remediation, and the additional ROMs. He shared that was what was needed for Mr. Bass to finish the project so the children could get into the schools on September 11th. Dr. Butler said they could go back to the spreadsheet and add additional information that was requested.
County Manager York introduced Ted Cole, Senior Vice President for Davenport, to share updated information on the school debt affordability model. Mr. Cole explained the remaining ABSS bonds that the voters authorized to be issued were about $19.5 million. He said the Board could issue the debt as early as this fall and the model would work. Mr. Cole reviewed and explained the school debt affordability analysis to the Board.
*Vice-Chair Carter, seconded by Commissioner Lashley, moved to recess the meeting at 1:26 p.m to 3:30 p.m. The motion carried without opposition.
*Chairman Paisley reconvened the meeting at 3:33 p.m.
Chairman Paisley asked which schools would be having HVAC replacements that they were cleaning the systems. Mr. Hook clarified whether Chairman Paisley was referring to the elementary and secondary school emergency relief federal funding (ESSER) projects. He said they had HVAC projects going for eight different schools. They were Williams High School, South Graham Elementary School, Eastlawn Elementary School, Turrentine Middle School, Western Middle School, South Mebane Elementary School, Broadview Middle School, and A.O. Elementary School. Mr. Hook said that all the equipment was not available and they were putting in ductwork at some of the schools. Mr. Hook commented that this was part of the $26 million contract with ESSER funds.
Commissioner Turner wanted to use the spreadsheet to see where they came from on Friday. He said they had allocated a total of $1,355,000 on Friday for HVACs. He continued that when he did the math for Eastlawn Elementary School ($170,000), Haw River Elementary School ($180,000), Williams High School ($115,000), Eastern High School ($363,000), Graham High School ($360,000), and Woodlawn Middle School ($255,000), that totaled $1,433,000 which was $88,000 more than they allocated on Friday. He also said that on Friday they had not known that Woodland Middle School needed $178,750 more which made that a new item. He asked why there was an increase at Woodlawn Middle School. Lowell Rogers, Deputy Superintendent, responded they had just received the ROM for that school. Mr. Bass also responded that air samples for Woodlawn Middle School had come back toxic. Commissioner Turner commented that on Friday, A. O. Elementary School was an unknown. He said that A.O. Elementary School was a new number coming in at $155,000. Mr. Bass explained the mold issues at that location were a partial ROM. Commissioner Turner added that the total was now $421,750 for both A.O Elementary School and Woodlawn Middle School and that included $88,000 for six schools that needed HVAC cleaning.
Commissioner Turner discussed the increased ROMs needed at Alexander Wilson Elementary School, E.M. Holt Elementary School, Highland Elementary School, Southern High School, Southern Middle School, and Sylvan Elementary School. Mr. Bass reviewed the additional ROM increases for those schools based on the new reports received from the hygienist on September 2nd-4th. Ms. Evans clarified that they needed to revise new numbers. She said when they looked at the HVAC cleaning that was approved on Friday, she came up with a difference of $27,000. She explained that A.O. Elementary School ($155,000), Woodlawn Middle School, ($178,750), and the additional ROMs ($1,270,000) would be $1,630,750.
Commissioner Turner asked if they knew the final price for any of the schools. Mr. Bass responded they had to complete the ROMs and then send that information over to be audited before the final price was available.
Chairman Paisley asked Mr. Hook if they had checks and balances in place to verify the work was being done correctly in the schools. He felt they were blindly taking whatever numbers that was given to them. Chairman Paisley indicated that the cost was an unknown. Mr. Hook said he did not disagree that there should be some concerns. He said this was their only option.
Commissioner Turner asked Mr. Rogers to discuss what was available out of the $8 million in ESSER funds. Mr. Rogers showed where the $26 million was budgeted. He said they needed to move funds around in the ESSER III-K12 Emergency Relief fund, which would leave them around $1 million in the fund.
Commissioner Turner and Mr. Rogers reviewed the Board Actions made at the joint meetings. Commissioner Turner commented at the last meeting they used the existing ABSS Funds. He said he would do that again and allocate funds from the remaining monies from the ABSS Southern High School roof that total of around $3.9 million. Commissioner Turner continued that would give $3.9 million for mold and remediation with a cushion of $2.7 million. He explained if they needed additional funds then use $1 million from ESSER. He said if the audit showed ESSER funds were not allowed to be used then the county would backfield that amount. Commissioner Turner said this was how he would keep things moving.