An outside professional air evaluation team hired by Oconee County Schools has concluded that the air quality in a selected classroom and in the gym at Oconee County Elementary School closely matches the air quality outside those school facilities.
Mayah Kirson and Tyler Kelly with Geo-Hydro of Kennesaw reported that for 20 fungal spore types identified in the air inside and outside of Classroom 607 at the Elementary School, fungal spore levels inside the school did not exceed levels outside the school.
Sixteen fungal spore types were identified at the gym, and in 12 of those cases, the level of spores per cubic meter of air were higher in air outside the building.
Kirson and Kelly report that the differences between the gym and outside air were small, however, and the observed concentrations inside the building “was low enough to not be a significant concern.”
The air quality assessments were based on measures on July 9 using mechanical air sampling pumps, but Kirson and Kelly also made visual observations of both the classroom and the gym on that date and recommended actions by the school staff to address several problems observed.
The findings by Kirson and Kelly are consistent in a general sense with those reported to the Board of Education at its meeting on May 12 by Chief Operations Officer Ryan White after parents had complained about potential mold problems at the school.
The Geo-Hydro team said that none of the problems they observed “contributed to a mold problem” at the gym or suggested a “significant mold problem” at the classroom.
Kirson and Kelly note that their findings are based on their testing and observations on July 9 and that “Mold concentrations and building conditions can be expected to vary over time, at different locations, and with weather.”
News Conference
Interim Superintendent Debra Harden announced to the Board of Education at her first meeting as superintendent on July 7 that she had asked White to employ an outside evaluator the possibility of mold at a classroom and gym at Oconee County Elementary School.
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| Colquitt, Harden, White (L-R) 7/28/2025 |
Parents at that meeting and at earlier meetings had complained about the possibility of mold in a third-grade classroom and in the gym and had offered to pay for an outside assessment of the possible problem.
Harden called a news conference for 8:30 a.m. on Monday at the Instructional Support Center in Watkinsville at which she and White released the results of the study by Geo-Hydro.
Oconee County Schools Communications Director Steven Colquitt had posted a story on the system web site at 8 a.m. that included a link to the full report.
The summary of the report, dated July 24, states that “Based on the results of our visual observations and this mold in air testing, at the time of our site visit, there did not appear to be a significant mold in air problem at the subject property.”
“However, we do suggest cleaning surfaces throughout the gymnasium and Office 509, closing openings to the elements at the gymnasium, and maintaining upkeep as relates to HVAC filter replacement throughout the subject property buildings,” the report concludes.
At the news conference on Monday, Harden and White stressed that the problems identified by Kirson and Kelly had been addressed or were being addressed.
“We had an external group to our staff to come in and clean from ceiling to floor,” Harden said of the gym, which she said she had recognized need to be cleaned even before the report was completed.
Methodology
Kirson and Kelly report that they used two high volume sampling pumps in their visit to Oconee County Elementary School on July 9 to sample mold spores in the air.
The team used one pump for Classroom 607, a classroom in a pod separated from the main building of the school, and one pump for the gym and an adjoining office.
White said at the news conference that the separate office is for the gym teacher.
Parents had complained about both the classroom and the gym.
The sampling pump collected 10-minute samples from two locations within the classroom and from three locations outside surrounding the classroom.
The pumps collected 10 minute samples from four locations within the gym, from one location within the gym teacher office, and from three locations surrounding the gym.
The pump stored data on sampling cassettes, according to the report, and the content of the cassettes was analyzed by Eurofins Built Environment Testing Laboratory in Norcross.
A blank cassette was used for each machine as a control.
Empirical Results
Kirson and Kelly summarize the findings in two tables in the report.
The samples from the classroom included eight different fungal spore types, with the most common being Ascospores and Penicillium/Aspergillus types. Both sites within the classroom produced a raw count of two spores for each of these types, or 53 spores per cubic meter.
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| Picture Of Sampling Setup From Report |
Another 12 fungal spore types were recorded in the three external samplings around the classroom.
The samples from the gym and the gym office produced 10 fungal spore types, with the most common being Penicillium/Aspergillus types. That spore type appeared in the four gym sampling locations and in the gym office.
The Penicillium/Aspergillus types spores occurred in only one of the three external samples, but it was at a much higher level in that sample than in any of the five internal samples.
Six fungal spore types were found in samples from the external sites but not in the internal samples.
Visual Observations
The report states that Kelly and Kirson conducted visual observations for mold in the areas where air samples were collected on the same day the air sampling took place.
“The visual observations were to identify visual mold growth and/or building materials with excessive moisture,” the report states. “This was not a thorough mold and moisture investigation of the sampling areas or the entire building.”
“Visual observations were limited to interior surfaces in the areas where sampling took place,” according to the report.
“No visual observations that would suggest a significant mold problem were identified in Classroom 607,” the report states. “However, we do suggest maintaining upkeep as relates to HVAC filter replacement.”
In the case of the gym, the report states, “Openings to the elements were identified throughout the gymnasium.”
The report notes that “Geo-Hydro observed several areas of discoloration at the location of the gymnasium floor...Dust accumulation was observed on HVAC grills throughout the gymnasium and Room 509...and across vertical and horizontal surfaces throughout the gymnasium, especially in the mezzanine.”
“Several ceiling tiles showed signs of water staining,” the report continues. “A small area of possible mold was identified on cove base in Office 509. Cove base staining was identified in other locations throughout the gymnasium.”
“Based on the results of our mold in air testing,” the report states, “it does not appear that the issues listed in this section contributed to a mold in air problem at the areas tested.”
“However, we do suggest cleaning surfaces throughout the gymnasium and Office 509, maintaining upkeep as relates to HVAC filter replacement, and closing openings to the elements within the gymnasium.”
Comparison With Earlier Tests
In the press conference, Katie Vickery asked White to explain the difference between what Geo-Hydro did and what White had reported was done earlier in response to the complaints from parents.
“Any time we have a report,” White said, “we come in and look at our humidity sensor. We used a moisture meter. We check our controls. We check the thermostat. We check the humidistat.”
“So if those numbers are elevated, that gets us to this point,” he said, referring to the report by Geo-Hydro. “In this case, all of those numbers were in the normal range.”
“Mold has to have water in order to grow,” White told the Board at the May 12 meeting, “so that's why we're continuing to look at the humidity levels.”
White told Vickery that the invoice for the work by Geo-Hydro had not yet come in, but the firm had been authorized to bill for “up to $7,500.”
Video
The video below is of the entire press conference on June 28, which lasted just more than 24 minutes.
Vickery recorded the video for use in this report.
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