More tests are planned and a building committee has begun searching for new office space.
By Daniel Hartill
Staff Writer

MECHANIC FALLS – Leaders for Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls schools are looking for a new building for their central offices after discovering mold in the current one.

Air quality testers discovered the mold over the summer. They collected samples of the air and the mold, which seems to have grown in the earthen basement of the century-old building.

The result is a sick building, said William Doughty, School Union 29’s assistant superintendent. However, no one is sure yet how sick it has become.

More tests are planned and a building committee has begun searching for new office space. Meanwhile, the 14 to 16 people who work there every day, including Doughty and Superintendent Nina Schlikin, have been warned to stay out of the basement.

The discovery of mold came while administrators and School Committee members were considering buying the building, once the offices of Marcal Paper in Mechanic Falls. The building is owned by Great Northern Recycling. School officials have asked the landlord to examine the building.

Besides mold, analyses have discovered bacteria and structural buckling, a possible sign that timbers have begun to weaken.

While the findings are of concern, there’s no reason to evacuate yet, Schlikin said Monday in a prepared statement.

That’s wise, said Poland School Committee Chairman Ike Levine.

A biologist who teaches at Lewiston-Auburn College, Levine is also a veteran analyst of mold and bacteria problems. He read the report from the testers, Air Quality Management Services Inc. of Gray. Since there have been no unusual claims of colds or other sicknesses in the building, it’s safe to stay put for now, he said.

After all, the mold could have been growing there for 10 years, he said. As long as the basement is left alone, the workers there ought to be fine, he said. Like other potential air contaminants, it is relatively safe unless it’s disturbed.

“The question is, ‘What do we do with a building like that?'” Levine said.

Union 29’s offices have been housed in the building for the last 12 years. The lease expires in June 2004.

School leaders are talking with officials from the union’s towns to see if there is space in any public building. They have also begun looking at available properties, said Frank D’Agostino, support services director for the union.

And they are shaping a contingency in case further analyses show a more severe problem, D’Agostino said.

The union will do what it needs to to keep its workers safe, Doughty said Monday. He added that children do not use the offices.

If children did meet there, the union’s response would be far different, he said.

“That would change the entire playing field,” Doughty said.

dhartill@exploremaine.com