Richmond parents react to mold closing Obama Elementary indefinitely

RICHMOND, Va. — Tensions were high Monday night as parents, teachers and staff at Barack Obama Elementary School came together to discuss the next step as mold issues continue to plague the school.

Earlier in the day, Superintendent Jason Kamras informed families that the school would not open this week because of elevated mold spore counts in the art room and mold spots discovered on some school equipment. He said that students could possibly be relocated to Clark Springs Elementary School while remediation continues.

Several parents voiced frustration and concern Monday during a meeting at Francis McClenney Elementary School. The most prevalent concerns being health and safety, childcare issues and school resources.

"What I'm actually worried about, and what a lot of parents are worried about, is we threw away everything in the art room. We're throwing away everything in the library. The musical instruments, mold. The Chromebooks, mold," parent Samieh Shalash said.

RPS had already pushed back Barack Obama Elementary's first day from Monday, Aug. 24, after air quality tests showed elevated mold spore levels inside the building.

Kamras said the mold growth stemmed from an HVAC outage that caused mold to spread in the school's basement and on some furniture and equipment.

Third district school board member Ali Faruk told CBS 6 that one of the school's chillers broke down in may. He said the replacement parts have still not arrived, but they were able to get it working again and cooling the building at 75 to 80% efficiency. Faruk is also a parent to an Obama Elementary school student.

"It was a wetter summer than we usually have, a hotter summer than we usually have, and an HVAC system that wasn't working properly," Faruk said. "So, sadly, all those came together to create the perfect awful soup for the looming of mold in a building that already had a proclivity to mold."

Kamras said that an air quality test on Saturday came back with slightly elevated mold levels, but remediation efforts uncovered what crews believe is the root cause.

"Most importantly, our remediation efforts uncovered what we believe is the primary source of the mold growth, which was a moist pipe hidden in a supply closet above ceiling tiles," Kamras said. "We were able to thoroughly clean this impacted area, and the mold levels dropped significantly in response."

Kamras said all air quality tests came back clear Sunday afternoon, except for the art room, which was sealed off to allow teachers to enter the building Monday morning to set up their classrooms.

Samieh said it is not the first time there have been mold issues at the school, with issues during the 2023-24 school year. She said seeing this happen again makes her feel like Obama Elementary is not as much of a priority as other schools. Several parents told CBS 6 they support the Obama leadership, but have less faith in the central office.

Kamras told CBS 6 that he understands concerns by both parents and teachers.

"People are just feeling for their kids and teachers are stressed at the start of the year, so I take no offense to that," Kamras said. "It's completely normal and it's why I wanted to meet everybody to see how everybody was, provide some information and chart a path forward."

Kamras says contractors will continue remediation efforts in every room of the school and will re-test the building at the end of the week. If spore counts remain elevated, the district will make plans to temporarily relocate to Clark Springs Elementary School. However, Kamras warned families that Clark Springs was also an old building and prone to issues.

Based on feedback Monday night, Kamras says most families preferred to wait on test results before committing to moving schools. The district is also working with the YMCA and the parks and recreation department to help parents navigate after-school programs and childcare.

Barack Obama Elementary is one of 11 school buildings over 100 years of age and with a $2.5 million budget for maintenance, Kamras says there are limited funds to go around.

"We try and focus on anything that is critical for health and safety, but sometimes that means we're not able to get to an HVAC system right away, and the result is what we're dealing with right now," Kamras said.

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