Mold infests Petaluma’s Live Oak School

Aging buildings at Live Oak Charter School are harboring a mold outbreak that’s created a series of unforeseen challenges for its community, pushing officials to spend money on a public health issue while they navigate ongoing budgetary woes.

According to multiple parents, who requested anonymity to protect the privacy of their children enrolled at the school, several students and at least one faculty member have been diagnosed with mold-related illnesses over the last two years.

Through a series of comprehensive tests in March, environmental specialists discovered water damage throughout the Live Oak campus, which is housed in several buildings that line Gnoss Concourse inside the Sonoma Marin-Fairgrounds. In addition, there were elevated airborne spore readings in at least one classroom, the office and the library, although not every building was tested for spores, according to a source.

School officials said they conducted various remediation projects over the course of the past six months, but some families believe the school has only been able to bandage the situation, and have lingering concerns that conditions could change over the course of the year, especially when it rains during the winter.

“I don’t feel like this is a healthy place to leave my kids,” one parent said.

Three classrooms had to be temporarily moved into a pod during remediation work in the spring, school officials said.

Ecological conditions were so bad in the hand-working room that mushrooms had grown out of the window sill, and the wall beneath it had become soft. That room remains closed, according to the former handwork teacher, who has since resigned due to ongoing health issues that first showed up in December.

School officials said they could not confirm nor deny details regarding any illnesses on campus, citing medical privacy rules.

Over the course of the summer, the middle school building underwent a series of countermeasures, including a roof replacement paid for by the fairgrounds, new ceiling tiles and air scrubbing, so classes could safely resume this month.

In many classrooms, buckets and small plastic containers are often used to collect water during the rainier months, according to multiple sources.

Josh Kizner, a Board of Directors member for the independent K-8 school since 2014, estimated the school has spent at least $50,000 on remediation work – dollars he said had to be spent in order to ensure student safety.

The school is in the final year of its current three-year lease with the fairgrounds, and expects to be reimbursed for some of the repairs. Fairgrounds CEO Allison Keaney did not return messages seeking comment, leaving specifics about the contract with Live Oak and which party is responsible for this type of maintenance work unclear.

The fairgrounds leases the 61-acre property from the city, and is involved in contract talks that could determine the fate of the Sonoma Marin-Fair, the Petaluma Speedway and tenants like Live Oak that have been there for decades.

The current 50-year lease expires in 2023, and city officials are exploring new revenue opportunities from their largest developable parcel.

The extra upfront costs for mold remediation come at a time when the Waldorf-inspired school, which serves nearly 300 students, is facing a budget shortfall.

Live Oak had a deficit of approximately $170,000 in the 2018-19 school year, and anticipates cuts in specialty areas this term. The annual budget is roughly $2 million, Kizner said.

The school is also preparing for the loss of yearly grant funds from Senate Bill 740, a lifeline of over $200,000 that Live Oak had been dependent on, due to district remapping requested by Petaluma City Schools when Live Oak renewed its charter last year, impacting its eligibility for the funds.

At the next board meeting, Kizner said he will be advocating for the formation of an indoor air quality committee that can continue to address the environmental conditions of the school going forward.

He anticipates forming a schedule for testing to help monitor spore counts and improve troublesome areas of the campus.

“The trick is, with the resources we’ve got, how do we get everybody feeling on the same page and everybody feeling good?” he said. “I think it’s to create that inclusive process.”

First-year Executive Director Justin Tomola said that safety is paramount, but was hesitant to correlate any mold at the school with the illnesses community members have been dealing with.

Mold at home did play a role for multiple families that were interviewed.

Still, the variations between the indoor spore counts and the control tests taken outside Live Oak’s buildings show that the school has its share of work to do, something that Tomola acknowledged.

“What are our next steps? How do we determine our next steps?” he said. “Do we do this indoor air quality plan? Within that, what are our top priorities and have a discussion around that with input from our board and community members. How do we fund it?”

For parents in the community that have been pushing for stronger measures by the school, the fairgrounds or even the city, they said their intention isn’t to close the school or divert its resources during a critical transition year that could shape its future.

They want to get things fixed, one parent said, but if conditions flare back up, it may be time for another school.

“I’m always weighing that,” the parent said. “The really heartbreaking thing is this is my kid’s community. But I would absolutely do what’s necessary to keep my kids healthy. (The school has) done some, but I don’t know at what point is enough to keep my kids healthy.”

(Contact News Editor Yousef Baig at yousef.baig@arguscourier.com or 776-8461, and on Twitter @YousefBaig.)