Parents Voice Concerns After Test Reveals Mold Problem At Cedarbrook Middle School
By Dan Wing
WYNCOTE, Pa. (CBS) – Officials with the Cheltenham Township School District held a meeting at Cheltenham High School Monday night to update parents of 700 Cedarbrook Middle School students about options moving forward as officials work to fix a mold problem in the Middle School.
Eleven classrooms and the cafeteria at the school have been closed due to the mold that was first discovered 10 years ago.
Parents packed into the library to hear the four options the school district is considering, three of which involve moving students to another location while Cedarbrook is knocked down and then rebuilt. The fourth option would be to renovate the school, 10 classrooms at a time. Refurbishing the school would cost nearly $27 million, while the price tag of building a new school would be over $50 million not to mention additional costs to house the students during construction.
As you might expect, for parents, the main concern was the safety of the children.
"I'm just trying to find the best way, the fastest way, we can get this done and pretty much get my kid out of this school," parent Denice Thompson said.
"Get the kids out of the school! That's important. That's important," parent Mr. Schwartz said.
The other main concern at the meeting was how much of the cost will be passed along to taxpayers.
The district has scheduled a public hearing on the issue for next Tuesday, October 22nd at 6 p.m. at the administration building to hear feedback from the community on the options presented.
