Email to St. James Elementary School parents claims no black mold found

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – Horry County School District leaders are responding to dozens of concerned parents after ongoing reports of mold at St. James Elementary School.

The school identified 23 areas last week that were in need of cleaning. Those areas were treated last weekend. But since then, parents have been concerned about their children’s health at the school.

A parent forward WMBF News an email from the district that was sent to parents on Friday. In the email, officials said that tests did not find black mold.

According to the school district, the primary source of the mold that has been identified and fixed were “roof leaks and wall penetrations of moisture, likely due to the driving rains of Hurricane Florence along with a deluge of rain."

School district leaders also addressed rumors that had been circulating on social media. One rumor includes a picture from the school that shows damage to a classroom. Officials said the picture is inaccurate because it was taken immediately after Hurricane Florence before the school was repaired. They sent a picture of the same wall after it was repaired in October.

The school district says it has scheduled an air quality re-test for this Sunday and more air scrubbers will be placed in the school Friday night.

Officials hope to have the results of the new tests seven to 10 days from when those samples were taken.

WMBF News will continue to stay on top of this developing story and will bring you those results as they become available both on air and online.

Copyright 2019 WMBF. All rights reserved.