Moss Side Elementary 'safe,' county concludes

By Charles N. Brown, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Air-quality tests at Moss Side Elementary School that show no mold or asbestos concerns are accurate, the Allegheny County Health Department said Wednesday.

Guillermo Cole, a Health Department spokesman, said recent inquiries about the methods and conditions under which the school was tested don't change the department's opinion that the school is safe.

"We don't think that the data are at all suspect," said Cole, who emphasized that the Health Department has been monitoring the results for four months. "There's no reason to be concerned with mold, asbestos or any other air-quality issue. We don't have any concerns that we're getting readings that are misleading.

"That tells us that the school is safe."

The school had been closed from February 2002 to January because of mold that was discovered in the building. During the initial mold cleanup, asbestos also was found.

More than 300 students were moved to other schools - primarily Moss Side Middle School and University Park Elementary School - while Moss Side Elementary was cleaned.

The district spent more than $850,000 to remove the mold and asbestos. This included replacing the school's roof, which was leaking water that caused the mold to develop.

The Health Department and district contractors conducted air-quality tests in January, clearing the school to reopen.

Since then, the district has hired L. Robert Kimball & Associates to conduct air-quality tests for at least six months after the school reopened. Each month, the test results have shown the school is safe to occupy.

A group of parents who sit on an air-quality oversight committee has raised concerns about the tests' validity because doors and windows were open during the testing and could have resulted in false readings.

Harvey Smith, Gateway's business manager, said he has confidence in the results the district received.

Betsy Mallison, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said neither the state nor the county has an indoor air-quality program. The DEP would get involved if the project involved demolishing the school because it would include outdoor air quality, said Ron Schwartz, the agency's air-quality manager.

Cole said closing doors and windows during the continued air-quality testing is not required. But before the school was reopened, it was necessary, he said.

"We insisted that you had to have the building closed," Cole said. "We wanted to make sure the mold and asbestos that we knew was in the building was taken care of. It was appropriate to have the building closed for that testing."

After removal of mold and asbestos, Cole said, it is best to use a variety of scenarios to do the tests. In winter, the windows are closed when tests are done; in the spring, they are open because the school does not have air conditioning. Each scenario has presented good air-quality readings without any cause for concern, he said.

Charles N. Brown can be reached at cbrown@tribweb.com or (412)380-8518.

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