Schools

ACE Basement Air Testing To Continue

The search for mold and any air quality issues continues this weekend at Danbury's Alternative Center for Excellence, the alternative high school.

The Alternative Center for Excellence, ACE, has a wet basement, and the city is investigating how wet it is. Is it safe?

The Board of Education heard an update on the issue Wednesday.

The city took air samples for mold in the spring, said Superintendent of Schools Sal Pascarella, and he expects more air samples this month. He said city and school officials toured the school and may recommend restricting students from entering the basement. For a complete story with photos of the basement, click on the school's name, Alternative Center for Excellence.

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"I talked to Linda (Schreiner, Principal) and I said we may have to move the classrooms out of the basement," Pascarella said, and he added that would cause a hardship at the alternative high school.

Pascarella said the city's Public Works Director Antonio Iadarolla is working on this issue, and the solution appears both expensive and complicated. Iadarolla said closing the basement probably isn't required right now.

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"The $400,000 is not enough," Pascarella said. That is money the city put aside so far to solve this problem. "The problem is going to be a bit more expensive. How much more expensive? I don't know."

Iadarolla, reached Thursday, said the talk about keeping people out of the basement is premature. He said there is mold and water damage in the basement, but he wants an independent air quality test to determine how safe or unsafe the air is.

"There is mold everywhere. There is mold in every building," Iadarolla said. "Do you know what they found when they tested the air in the spring? They found nothing."

Iadarolla said an independent air quality test will be done soon, and that is just one step the city is taking to evaluate and improve the school.

Iadarolla said city workers investigated the school all summer, and found a group of problems leading to water in the basement. First, gutters from the roof carry water to the ground near the building's footing, and that is contributing to water in the basement. The roof gutters are also old, cracked and of an elaborate design.

Second, the bricks on the outside of the walls of the school are porus because they were sandblasted, and they soak up a tremendous amount of water. Third, the basement floor was leveled during a renovation, and it now is permitting the buildup of water in the basement.

Iadarolla said he will put together a repair plan and budget in time for the budget for 2012-2013.

"It's a beautiful building. I cannot write this building off," Iadarolla said. "We are working on putting together estimates to make the school safe. I want to make sure I have a safe school for the kids and the people who work there."


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