THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994             TAG: 9410200372
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: MANASSAS                           LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

MOLD TAKES OVER MANASSAS CLASSROOMS THE CHAIRS WERE ALL COVERED WITH WHITE FUZZ, SAID ONE DISLOCATED TEACHER.

Mold has taken over the third floor at Stonewall Middle School, forcing more than 250 seventh-graders to attend classes this week in the cafeteria, gym and auditorium.

Officials at the school just west of Manassas said they had received dozens of calls from worried parents. They also said several teachers who work in the area had complained of headaches, runny noses and sore throats, typical allergic reactions that can be triggered in some people by molds.

So Prince William County decided to close the third floor, which houses 14 rooms that hold 278 students, 15 teachers, a computer lab and an art class.

Starting last Friday, an environmental cleanup company sealed off the floor with plastic traps and began the process of vacuuming and scrubbing every surface to get rid of penicillium, aspergillus and cladosporium.

The cleanup is expected to cost more than $60,000, and the rooms will be tested for the presence of mold before students move back in, probably next week, Principal Ken Lawrence said.

``They've been handling it pretty well,'' Lawrence said of the displaced students and teachers. ``It has been a difficult time for everyone.''

Jack Lynch, an associate superintendent of schools, said county health officials had assured him there is no health hazard now that the floor has been sealed off and is being cleaned. Despite the presence of small amounts of mold in other rooms, he said, ``there is no indication of significant, elevated mold in the rest of the building.''

The mold, which is being attributed to the summer's long spells of warm, wet weather, was found on walls, doors, desk tops and pipes in the classrooms. Officials said some of the books, bulletin board material and paper left behind will have to be destroyed because of the mold.

``We went into our Mac lab and it was growing on the edges of the table. The chairs were all covered with white fuzz,'' said Marilyn Turner, a teacher. ``The pipes were black with mold. There was mold on the cables behind the computers.'' by CNB