UPDATE: The school district announced Monday that cleaning crews are inspecting the school and so far have not found any additional mold. District officials plan to meet on Thursday to determine if the start of the school year will need to be pushed back.
(Original story)
LEHMAN TOWNSHIP -- Mold was found in the walls behind some lockers at East Stroudsburg Area Senior High School North and at neighboring Lehman Intermediate School.
Now the district is working to fix the problem before students get back to class.
District officials tell Newswatch 16 a contractor was installing new lockers in sections of the school on Wednesday when the mold was discovered. Since then, a cleaning crew has been called in to remove the mold and check the air quality inside the building.
That part of the school is now blocked off until the problem is fixed.
Once the mold was found, the district didn't waste any time calling in cleaning crews. With nearly 2,000 lockers inside, officials wanted to make sure each one was checked and repaired before school starts in just a few days.
"We've engaged with environmental engineers to perform air quality testing throughout the process of the remediation as a precaution. The district is having all of the lockers detached from the walls and inspected to ensure any place that the problem may exist is promptly addressed," said Eric Forsyth, director of administrative services.
District officials believe moisture in the wall from a former cleaning process may have led to the mold problem.
Kyle Cave will be a senior at East Stroudsburg North and he's happy the problem was caught before the new school year begins.
"Yeah, it's good but I just hope it's all cleaned out before I get back."
East Stroudsburg Area school officials say the goal is to get the problem cleaned up before school starts on August 28.