Roof Leaks Blamed For Mold Crisis At Yonkers School
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - Hundreds of Yonkers parents are still waiting to find out when their children will return to their school after a mold problem forced students into two temporary buildings.
Third-grader Amanda Michalak told CBS2's Andrea Grymes going to a new school this week was kind of weird.
"You don't know where everything is," said Michalak. "You get lost coming back from the bathroom."
She's just one of nearly 600 Paideia School 15 students in Yonkers forced out of their normal building.
The district is trying to tackle a mold problem inside stemming from a leaky roof which is estimated to cost about $1 million to fix.
"They're doing a great job," said parent Peter Sikoryak. "They're making the best of a situation. They're handling our kids very professionally and well."
Superintendent Dr. Edwin Guezada says moldy air samples came back on Monday, prompting them to evacuate the school. As of Thursday, grades 5 to 8 are temporarily attending classes at the formerly empty Saint Bartholomew's while pre-K through 4th graders have been added to Dodson School.
"We will not return to School 15 until the job has been fully completed and all the tests have been conducted and have come back negative," said Yonkers Schools Superintendent Dr. Edwin Quezada.
At this point the superintendent says School 15 is about 90 percent clean. He says they'll take new air samples tomorrow, and they expect the results back on Monday.
After that, Guezada says the district and parents will decide when the students will return to the first and second floors. He says for now the third floor is off limits since work has started to completely replace the flat part of the roof.
"I just hope the new roof goes on and the children can get back to their normal school," said grandparent Loretta Pavlick.
Work to repair the roof is estimated to take about two months.