On Aug. 17, during a pep assembly for the freshman’s first day, mold was discovered on the vents above student seating in Ravenscroft gym. The administrators were the first to look up and see it and took action by moving students out of the gym and closing it for the weekend as it was cleaned.
“Things were getting jammed up so the air wasn’t flowing properly, so there was condensation on the outside of the vent and there was mold … it was not the most harmful kind of mold you can have, but we still wanted to be safe,” principal Blake Smith said.
The pep assembly was moved to Willis gym where freshmen continued with their first-day festivities, however in Ravenscroft, the janitorial staff was hard at work, cleaning the vents of mold.
“The first time I saw it was during cheer practice the night before freshman’s first day, we all noticed it and thought it was dust … the next day I was talking to Tony Hein and he told me to tell the admins about it because it was not dust and it was black mold,” senior cheerleader Brooklynn Black said.
According to Healthline, it depends on the environment and a person’s mold sensitivity to determine if one were to have symptoms. Common symptoms include sneezing, coughing, congestion and eye irritation.
“About thirty minutes after that, the admin said that we can’t go in Ravenscroft because there was black mold, and I thought I was going to get sick,” Black said.
Smith explained that because it was summer, the routine maintenance checks were not taking place, and no one was in the school to look out for mold. Additionally, the temperature in the school was warmer than usual making it a suitable home for mold.
“I think it was just bad timing … the air compressor working overtime because it’s so hot outside, and it was just a domino effect and that’s when the mold started to form,” Smith said.
