x
Breaking News
More () »

Wyoming Valley West Middle School Back Open after Mold Cleanup

KINGSTON — Wyoming Valley West Middle School is back open in Luzerne County. The students from the school are back in the building where they started the ...

KINGSTON -- Wyoming Valley West Middle School is back open in Luzerne County.

The students from the school are back in the building where they started the school year back in August.

Mold was discovered there just after the new school year began and now, the school district now says this building is safe.

The mold was found in the basement and in some classrooms. The district closed the building for weeks of cleanup.

It's been nearly two months since students entered Wyoming Valley West Middle School on Chester Street in Kingston.

The district closed the school in late September after mold turned up in classrooms.

Jacob Colleran is a seventh grader happy to be back.

"It's a better schedule in my mind. We have longer classes, we get to do our work longer," said Colleran.

Colleran is referring to split schedules implemented when the middle school closed. Students were sent to the high school in Plymouth. High schoolers had the building in the morning. Middle school students took over in the afternoon. Periods were cut to 30 minutes.

Lisa DeLuca brought her sixth-grade son David to class, confident he'll be in a clean building.

"They did a pretty good job and had some reliable people in cleaning the school, so I'm not concerned about anything at this point," DeLuca said.

Teacher Jennifer Amato has as much reason to be concerned as anyone. Her basement classroom has been totally redone and it needed it. This classroom was one of the first where mold was detected.

"They say the air quality tests came back clean so we're assuming that's the way it is," Amato said.

"It smells great," said Principal Deborah Troy. "Every room has been given an update. The air quality tests have come back positive, so we're ready to go."

Cleanup and renovation crews spent weeks replacing anything the mold could have contaminated.

"It looks beautiful," said teacher Rosie Griffin. "Everything looks beautiful. You can see where the new things were put in."

There is another part to this story, and it involves the high school students, who no longer have to share their building with all those middle schoolers.

We found high school students waiting for the bus in Kingston about a half hour later than they did during the early starting split sessions.

"I just laid in bed, on my phone, waiting to leave," said student Anabel Gifoli.

It is now back to normal. Middle school students get their building all day, every day.

The cleanup at Wyoming Valley West Middle School cost more than $60,000.

 

Before You Leave, Check This Out