:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/352MTKKZ7Y4XBKBTTROJOXJE7Y.jpg)
St. Charles School District 303 board members approved spending $268,030 on the remediation of mold from mobile classrooms at Davis Primary at their Feb. 12 meeting.
The mobile classrooms will house half of the dual-language program for the 2024-25 school year.
In November, the board approved a new grade level configuration for Richmond and Davis that includes transitioning to K-5 buildings and housing the entire dual-language program at Richmond Intermediate.
The relocation of the dual-language program will exceed the space available at Richmond and require the use of six mobile classrooms during the 2024-25 school year while a permanent six-classroom addition is planned for construction at Richmond for occupancy in the 2025-26 school year.
The district had been considering renting six mobile classrooms at Richmond, but instead chose to remediate the existing mobile classrooms at Davis, which originally were planned to be decommissioned at the end of this school year.
At their Feb. 5 meeting, board members were presented with three options to alleviate the overcrowding: rent new mobile classrooms at Richmond, use the existing mobile classrooms at Davis for half of the dual-language program or consolidate the dual-language program to one class per grade level at Richmond.
Air quality tests showed the presence of mold in Davis mobile classrooms and it was determined there was mold above the ceiling throughout the mobile unit, which will cost the district an estimated $268,029 to remediate before they can be used again in the fall.
The rental of mobile units at Richmond was estimated to cost more than $600,000.
Consolidating dual-language classes was the cheapest option, but the much larger class sizes were deemed detrimental to the learning environment.
While multiple board members expressed dissatisfaction with the dual-language program being split between two sites, the board ultimately decided to implement a remediation plan at Davis rather than rent new mobile structures.
A full breakdown of the scope of work and cost breakdown can be reviewed on the district’s website.
Board members awarded the remediation contract to Bear Construction Company in a 6-1 vote at their Feb 12 meeting. Board member Edward McNally cast the sole no vote.
Before the vote, McNally asked for confirmation that the mobile classrooms would be removed at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
“I want to know, for certain, that we are eliminating mobiles in this district,” McNally said. He was joined in his support for eliminating mobile classrooms by board member Thomas Lentz.
Superintendent Paul Gordon confirmed the mobile unit is intended to be removed after the 2024-25 school year.
As approved, grades K-2 of the dual-language program will be housed in the mobile classrooms at Davis for the 2024-25 school year and grades 3-5 will be housed at Richmond.
The full dual-language program is intended to be housed at Richmond in the 2025-26 school year after more classrooms are constructed.
Work is expected to begin on the mobile units in April and take about 12 weeks to complete. The estimated timeline shows planning and permitting through March and abatement completed in June. July will be spent preparing classrooms for the next school year.