Monday Greencastle School Board meeting moved to Parker Auditorium

Anticipating a big crowd with plenty of questions, the Greencastle School Board will conduct its September meeting in a larger venue.

The board will meet at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24 at Parker Auditorium inside McAnally Center, School Board President Mike White said.

With questions anticipated about ongoing mold and air quality issues at Tzouanakis Intermediate School, Parker’s capacity of several hundred gives it an advantage over the couple dozen or so who can comfortably fit in the normal school board meeting room at GCSC Central Office.

White also said the board plans to abbreviate the normal portion of the meeting in the interest of hosting a question-and-answer session about issues surrounding the Tzouanakis building, which has been closed since the night of the last meeting, Monday, Aug. 27.

The board took a similar step that evening, getting through a few routine matters but voting to suspend the rest of the agenda in favor of addressing the situation at Tzouanakis.

While school officials had known of some mold growth issues since at least mid-July, it was on Aug. 27 that they discovered that the level of mold spores in the air of the school were not being monitored.

After school was canceled for Tzouanakis students the following day, a relocation plan was announced. For the last three-plus weeks, third-grade students have had class at Deer Meadow Primary, fourth-graders at Ridpath Primary and fifth-graders first at McAnally, and then at Greencastle High School.

In the meantime, Tzouanakis has undergone two rounds of cleaning and testing. After each, elevated levels of aspergillus/penicillium have still been detected in seven rooms of the 30-plus room intemediate school.

Following the most recent round of testing, an industrial hygienist was added to the group the school corporation is using to combat the mold issue.

In his most recent update to Tzouanakis parents, Supt. Jeff Hubble assured them that none of the mold present in the school is considered toxic, though it could be an allergen to certain people.

Additionally, he said there is no “black mold” present in the school, but that as mold ages, it turns darker and is sometimes called black mold.

Parker Auditorium is located in the northwest corner of McAnally Center. It is most easily accessible through the north entrance of McAnally, near the southwest corner of Greencastle High School.