Frustrated Del Sur Elementary parents demanded answers Wednesday night as Poway Unified School District officials faced families for the first time since mold concerns delayed the start of the school year.
The meeting at Del Norte High School came after more changes to the district's plans — including another delay in students returning to their home campus.
The district announced that Del Sur students are now expected to return to class Monday, but not at Del Sur Elementary. Instead, students will attend Stone Ranch Elementary for at least the next month while officials work to identify the root cause of the mold concerns.
The news created another challenge for families already dealing with disrupted schedules.
“It's gonna take like 40 minutes of traffic to get our kids to school and pick them up,” one parent named Becca said. “And I have a kid at another school too, and I'm a full-time working mom. I mean, it's just none of it makes sense.”
The Wednesday meeting quickly became emotional as parents pressed district and school officials for more information about the mold concerns, the district's response and what the coming weeks will look like for their children.
One parent questioned why families had not received more information about whether their children could have been affected.
Other parents described feeling frustrated and worried about their children's health.
“Like it is very heartening to see them making all the effort, but also, we were all very worried,” another parent said. “Are our kids sick with mold in their chest? We don't know.”
District officials said they are continuing to work to determine the root cause of the mold issue and reassured parents they were discussing ways to make the temporary move to Stone Ranch as efficient as possible, including pickup and drop-off procedures.
Parents were told classroom assignments would be shared Friday.
At least four classes will also be held at the Boys & Girls Club, according to officials.
For some parents, the temporary arrangement is welcome if it gets students back into classrooms — but they remain uncertain about whether the plan will resolve the underlying problem.
“Hopefully the one month is enough time to clean everything up and then fix everything,” one parent said. “Hopefully they can just really find a solution and this is gonna be only a very short temporary thing.”
The district's answers did little to ease all of the concerns in the room.
“I don't know what to make of the situation,” one parent said. “At the same time, if they've made the provision, I want to give them a chance. But a part of me is also like, there's so many unanswered questions.”
Other parents said their priority now is getting children back to learning while keeping communication open.
“We want more answers from them, but I think the first thing is that get these kids back to learning,” a parent said. “They should be learning, and all our schedules are also getting disrupted.”
Families said they hope Wednesday's meeting is the beginning of more consistent communication from the district.
“So hopefully they will keep the communication channel open and be ready to answer open-ended questions next time,” one parent said.
For Del Sur families, the immediate plan is clear: students are expected back in class Monday at Stone Ranch Elementary.
But many parents left Wednesday night's meeting still waiting for answers about how the district got here, what caused the mold concerns and when their children will finally be able to return to their own school.
