SAN DIEGO (KGTV)- Mold and moisture issues at Del Sur Elementary School forced the Poway Unified School District to delay the start of the school year — and some parents say they were not told enough, or told soon enough, about what was happening on campus.
The district says it was working to resolve the problem and expected classrooms to be ready in time. But as the issues spread to more areas of the school, independent testing showed additional remediation was needed before students could return safely.
The problems began on July 31, when the school's principal reported moisture-related concerns in 2 classrooms. By Aug. 4, a third classroom was flagged, and the district brought in a restoration company to begin treatment.
Within days, the situation had grown. By Aug. 5, five more classrooms had reported concerns involving moisture, humidity, odors, or visible mold.
Sabrina Uppal, a parent and substitute teacher at Del Sur Elementary, said the problems were not limited to one part of the building.
"It's not just one corridor of the school that has issues. There are mold issues on many different parts of the campus," Uppal said.
On Aug. 7, staff were notified about the moisture concerns. Three days later, on Aug. 10, teachers in impacted classrooms were relocated when they returned to the building. Air samples were collected on Aug. 9, and the district received results 2 days later.
But some parents say the district's communication fell short of what families needed.
"In the emails that they sent, they actually didn't use the word mold; it said air quality. It wasn't until they put out a question and answer website where they actually use the word mold, so they weren't truly transparent on what is going on, what we should be looking out for," Uppal said.
Uppal also raised concerns about promises made over the summer.
"This summer they told us that there's not a lot of activities and summer programs happening at the school because they were going to fix the issue, but it turns out that they actually didn't do that," Uppal said.
On Aug. 12 — one day before the first day of school — the district decided to delay the start of classes and notified parents.
The district says it is now cleaning and testing all spaces on campus, including areas that have not reported problems. The next round of test results is expected Sunday or Monday, and those results will determine when students can return.
For at least one parent, the results alone will not be enough.
"I will only be ready after seeing the reports from the air quality testing people, and I also wanna make sure that this is not the only testing that they're doing, that they're gonna be doing ongoing testing," Uppal said.
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