Dear LLESD Community, 

Modernization construction remains underway at our schools, and significant progress has been made on our facility upgrade projects. The XL Construction team's goal is to ensure that school and education always come first. Additionally, safety is a top priority, for our students and staff when they are in school and in how we build and maintain our learning environments. 

At Las Lomitas Elementary school, our construction team is working on seismic upgrades, new roofing, and new HVAC units. The ceilings were opened up for this work in Phase 1 of the modernization, and in the course of their work, XL Construction identified what might be mold on the high beams in three classrooms. These rooms are currently unoccupied. The district immediately brought in professionals to do some testing.

The testing confirmed that some surfaces high in the ceilings had mold spores on them. These mold areas are encapsulated, high in the ceiling, well above the ceiling tiles, and above the insulation. The mold that was discovered in these three classrooms did not present any known danger to students or staff.

The old Kindergarten wing did not have mold spores in similar areas.  

We have a mold abatement plan that Pro-Tech is implementing immediately. We are currently taking every precaution to safely remove the mold and confirm that our classrooms remain safe in the future for our students and staff.

The abatement began yesterday, Tuesday, September 27, 2022, and will take most of this week.  At the end of the abatement work, Pro-Tech will do additional testing to confirm that the mold has successfully been removed. 

Additionally, Pro-Tech will be on campus today to take air quality samples in all classrooms slated for modernization.  We want to proactively assess the air quality in those classrooms rather than wait until we undertake construction there and confirm that the air quality in those spaces is good at this time.   

As a safety measure, the district has been using MERV13 filters in our HVAC units for the past two years to ensure a safe, healthy learning environment for our students. All classrooms also had air purifiers during that time. These two filtering devices would have filtered out mold particles in the classrooms if there had been any.   

We will keep you updated as we learn more from testing and retesting following the abatement. We will also post any updates on our website on the facility project updates page, which can be found here.

Safety is a top priority in our district. We are following effective procedures and are taking prudent action to ensure that the campus facilities and grounds are safe. 

Best Regards, 

Dr. Beth Polito

Superintendent