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11/14/2024 06:41 PMREGIONAL
On Nov. 12, the Region 4 School District announced that the mold remediation project at John Winthrop Middle School (JWMS) is finally coming to a conclusion “with the construction work substantively complete just prior to the Thanksgiving break.”
In a district-wide email, Superintendent Brian White informed town leaders and families that the remediation work was coming to a conclusion, stating that “the district and the Region 4 building administrations have been developing a transition plan that would allow our school staff to prepare John Winthrop for returning students and would allow Valley Regional High School to plan to resume normal operations.”
White thanked the members of the building committee who oversaw the remediation project, as well as the members of the administration “who have worked so hard to bring this project to a successful completion.”
The work completed inside the building includes upgrades to the HVAC controls at JWMS, along with replacement of the building’s insulation. Inefficiencies with the previous HVAC system, coupled with the discovery of mold growth in the insulation, were determined to be major sources of mold growth in the building by the mechanical and structural engineering partners involved in the remediation project.
Speaking with the Valley Courier, White said that, “Once the construction work is completed at the end of November, the entire school will be tested by EnviroMed to ensure that it is safe. Once that occurs, we will obtain all of the necessary signoffs from the local building official.”
The superintendent said that the district is “definitely going to get reimbursed” by the state for the project, although an exact dollar amount is currently undetermined. White said this is due to a “pretty long close-up period with these projects,” as is required by the state and could take up to a year to complete, after which “the state will make a final determination about actual dollar amounts, and only then do you learn how much money you're actually getting back from the state.”
The transition of returning everyone back to JWMS will include the early dismissal of staff and students at Valley Regional High School, which is where the middle school students have been attending, from Monday, Dec. 16 to Thursday, Dec. 19. This timespan is allotted by the district “to ensure teachers and staff have much needed time prior to the holiday break to prepare” for the beginning of the second portion of the academic year, which will begin on Thursday, Jan. 2.
“We’re going to give teachers the chance to get in there to get their classroom set up,” said White. “For the teachers, it's kind of like getting ready for the first day of school again.”
On Jan. 2, education will resume at the middle school for all students and faculty in the building “without any restrictions,” said White, adding that the return should also have a “first day of school” feeling for the students.
According to the district, “Principal Carolyn Gbunblee will be in further detailed communication with JWMS students, families, and staff about the plan for re-entry to their home building and what the first several days of school will look like.”