In just four days, the Cipowski household’s morning routine has gone from orderly to utterly chaotic.
Before officials shuttered Neil Armstrong School in Hoffman Estates last week to rip up moldy carpet, Barb Cipowski used to kiss her three kids goodbye, hand them each a lunch box and then watch them from her front porch as they trailed off to the school a block away.
Now, she makes two round trips before 8:30 a.m. to Armstrong, where they board three separate buses bound for as many different schools. In the afternoon, the youngsters return at various times that can span up to an hour.
“I pretty much spend almost an hour’s time going back and forth to Armstrong. It’s ironic, because I live only a block away from the school,” said Cipowski, who handles these tasks with her 15-month-old daughter in tow.
The ordeal for Cipowski and other parents is expected to last a minimum of six weeks, according to School District 54 Supt. Lynne Rauch. Just Thursday night, the school board was scheduled to pick a contractor to remove the bad carpet and the asbestos-filled tile beneath it. Crews will begin Friday and should finish in 13 days.
“That’s the biggest work effort at this point,” Rauch said.
But that’s not all. As that project progresses, experts will search for the source of moisture making the fungal matter grow. The extent of the needed repair work, not to mention installation of new flooring, will then dictate any additional time–and money–needed to finish the job, she said.
The mess can be traced back to last fall, when a few employees complained of severe allergies at work. As the health problems continued into spring, district workers were ordered to test and clean the heating, air conditioning and filtration systems. They concluded those units did not contain allergens.
A private firm was hired and immediately looked at the carpet as a source. The experts from Park Ridge-based Boelter and Yates Environmental Scientists and Engineers were right–mold was found in the golden-brown fibers.
A thorough shampooing helped for a few months, but the spores grew back, this time to greater levels. The company then told school officials to let the carpet lie dormant through the summer to see if the growth persisted, or if it was just caused by foot traffic.
That wait has drawn criticism from parents who believe the matter should have been handled during the off months.
“I think that’s a credible complaint,” Rauch said. “I’m sorry it happened that way.”
New tests were taken in the first days of this school year and sent to Johns Hopkins University for analysis. When the results arrived Sept. 10, they showed even more mold in the samples.
The next day, kids brought home notes informing parents that Armstrong would close and students would have Sept. 12 and 15 off from school.
Over the four-day weekend, an army of teachers, administrators, movers and volunteers packed up each of the 31 classrooms–bulletin boards, desks, artwork and all–and shipped them to new locations.
On Tuesday, the pupils started attending different schools: Kindergarten through 2nd grade are at Twinbrook School in Hoffman Estates; 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are in Hillcrest School in Hoffman Estates; and 6th graders ended up in Campanelli School in Schaumburg.
Parent Patty Inserra, like Cipowski, has experienced difficulty getting her two kids to the bus pickup at Armstrong.
“It’s an inconvenience, but I’m just glad they’re going to make the school better and cleaner,” she said.
Cipowski said the district has tried hard to minimize the effects.
“The district and staff have been super,” she said.
The situation should be eased next week, Rauch said, when Township High School District 211 contributes the services of three buses to help transport 6th graders to Campanelli.
