Air quality evaluation finds mold, mildew growing at Smithville High School

Mold and mildew have been found on ceilings and vents at Smithville High School, according to a presentation by the district’s maintenance director at the school board meeting Monday.   

The Texas Association of School Boards, a statewide educational association that serves and represents school boards in the state, recently performed an air quality evaluation of Smithville High School and found “fungal spores on the outside exterior” of the building.

Mildew was growing on the ceiling tiles and vents of room 108, above the teacher’s desk and storage closet. 

Zack Harris, the district’s maintenance director, explained to the school board that the department is currently cleaning the campus’ eight energy recovery ventilators, which are filters that bring fresh air and exhaust hot air in the building. Five had been cleaned as of Monday. 

Harris said he is also working with an HVAC airflow engineer consultant to get the ductwork of the high school cleaned. The school has been replacing HVAC filters monthly, Harris said, as well as cleaning the energy recovery ventilator filters annually. 

All of the thermostats on campus have been readjusted to prevent additional mold from growing, Harris said. 

“We noticed that some of the time of the thermostats were off a little bit, and we also changed the occupied and unoccupied time that was installed when the building was designed,” he said. 

When temperatures in classrooms dip too low, condensation increases which stains ceiling tiles. It’s important to control humidity levels and facilitate proper air flow, but Harris’ main concern is that the main hallway of the high school does not have air conditioning. 

“Four-hundred-seventy feet long, 7,500 square feet big, and there's no HVAC,” he said of the hallway. 

Each classroom has its own air conditioning unit. So, Harris suspects that classrooms are setting their thermostats lower to compensate for the lack of air conditioning in the hallway. 

He said the maintenance department has reached out to air conditioning contractors to poll opinions and recommendations. The department is also working with experts to determine whether the fix may include cleaning the campuses energy recovery ventilators, replacing them or adding more.