Craven County Board of Education approves plan to address mold

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - The Craven County Board of Education quickly organized to take action after mold was found inside Vanceboro Farm Life Elementary School.

“It’s concerning, I’m glad they found it though as quickly as they possibly could,” parent Uriah Cennoe said.

Board members set up an emergency meeting at noon on Friday to get to the bottom of the mold found this week before the carpool lanes begin filling up in August.

“The mold is contained in two classroom wings. We believe the result is the extremely humid weather that we’re experiencing in addition to the routine summer cleaning of our classrooms and hallways,” Craven County Schools interim superintendent Dr. Stuart Blount said.

The emergency meeting lasted less than 15 minutes before all four board members present agreed on moving forward on paying $269,567.88 for a third party mold remediation contractor to start work as soon as Friday evening.

For Cennoe, he says he’s surprised by how swiftly the board acted on the issue.

“They handle things pretty quickly. I know if they don’t get it taken care of, then they would probably bus our kids someplace else. I know they’ll protect the kids,” Cennoe said.

School officials say it’s about protecting all who come into the school. “We care about the safety and health of all those people and that’s why it’s so important to act so urgently on issues like this,” Craven County Board of Education chairman Lori Spiece said.

Dr. Blount says he’s anticipating for either Tuesday or Wednesday (July 22-23) for the mold removal to be finished.

He adds that the mold remediation will be paid for through either its contractor facility budget or fund balance.