Parents of children in Oconee County Elementary School have started a second petition offering to help fund professional mold testing at the school.
Mandy Moreira, president of the Parent Teachers Organization at the elementary school, presented an earlier petition to the Board of Education at its meeting on April 21, asking the Board to conduct mold testing at the school.
Moreira said she received no response from any member of the Board after making that request.
Moreira said her daughter is assigned to a classroom pod at the school separated from the main building. Moreira said she has learned from teachers and others of potential problems from mold in that building.
In addition, as president of the PTO, she said she often visits the school’s gym, where some of the organization’s equipment is stored, and she said the gym has a very distinct smell that is of concern to her.
Oconee County Elementary School faces Hog Mountain Road in Butler’s Crossing and is part of a larger campus that includes Oconee County Primary School and Oconee County Middle School.
The petition now in circulation states that “If funding is a barrier, we are ready to help raise or contribute the necessary resources to ensure professional, independent mold testing takes place before any construction begins.”
Status Unclear
What Oconee County Schools has done to address the concerns raised by parents about potential mold at Oconee Elementary School is not clear.
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| Butler's Cross School Complex |
No one responded to Moreira after she gave her six-minute-long appeal to the Board at its regular meeting on April 21.
I had filed an open records request on April 7 asking for “any documents produced by Oconee County Schools or any of its contractors since Jan. 1, 2025, regarding mold or the possibility of mold at Oconee County Elementary School.”
Open Records Officer Steven Colquitt responded by saying that the phrase “regarding” “requires OCS to make judgments and interpret your request, which is outside the scope of the Georgia Open Records Act.”
“Also, please note that OCS may not have access to materials produced by ‘any of its contractors’,” he wrote.
The Oconee Enterprise reported on the front page of its April 24 edition that it had filed a number of Open Records Requests that had been unproductive.
The paper reported that its request for “results of an air humidity test” at the school in 2024 and 2025 produced the response that “There are no records responsive to your request.”
Old And New Petition
The original petition, which Moreira told the Board on April 21 had been signed by 72 people, said “It has come to our attention that teachers and staff have raised serious concerns about the potential presence of mold in the school building.”
“These concerns are supported by reports of health issues among staff, which could be linked to mold exposure,” it continues.
It requested that Oconee County schools conduct “immediate, independent, professional mold testing prior to any construction or flooring replacement.”
The new petition, launched by Kara Fresk, who also initiated the first petition, says that “As parents, we are not only advocating for mold testing--we are willing to contribute to making it happen.”
The petition says “This is not just about floors--it’s about trust, health, and doing right by the people who make our school community strong.”
“Let’s move forward together,” it ends, “with testing, transparency, and care.”
Moreira informed me in an email message on April 30 that “I have received no contact from the board regarding my speech at the last meeting.” We spoke by telephone on May 1.
Oconee County Primary School has grades PK through 2. Oconee County Elementary School has grades 3 through 5. Oconee County Middle School has grades 6 through 8.
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