Oconee County School Superintendent Debra Harden has asked school Chief Operations Officer Ryan White to have a third party conduct testing for mold at Oconee County Elementary School.
Harden made that announcement to the Oconee County Board of Education on Monday in her first report as Interim Superintendent.
Parents of children at Oconee County Elementary School have complained repeatedly in recent months about the possibility of mold at the school and asked for independent testing, even offering to contribute to funding the testing if necessary.
Four citizens spoke during the public comment section of the meeting on Monday, all of them expressing concern about the possibility of mold.
The Monday regular meeting of the Board followed a nearly-four-long meeting of the Board in executive session earlier in the day.
Board Chair Michael Ransom said after the executive session on Monday that the Board reviewed the 19 applicants that met the June 16 deadline for submitting an application but did not screen or rank them.
He said he thought the Board would narrow the list down and do interviews with selected candidates later this week or early next week.
Ransom said he expects the Board to do a second round of interviews in August and name a new superintendent in September.
Mold Testing
At the end of her Superintendent Report on Monday, Harden said “I would like to inform the Board that I have directed our Chief Operating Officer, Dr. White, to have a third party recommend and conduct additional testing at our elementary school.”
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| Harden 7/7/2025 |
Harden was reversing a decision by Superintendent Jason Branch, who stepped down at the end of June, not to do outside testing.
White had told the Board at its meeting on May 12 that he had conducted tests at the elementary school and did not find evidence of mold.
“We monitor the humidity levels using the sensor on our HVAC units and the handheld humidity sensor as well, which allowed us to check multiple areas in that space,” he said.
“We also utilized a moisture meter to test a variety of surfaces in the gym, all of which came back within industry norms,” he said.
Speaking before the Oconee County Republican Party on June 23, Board Chair Ransom said the issue was closed as far as the Board was concerned.
“We have a Chief of Operations, Ransom said, referring to Ryan White, “and he handles all of operational stuff in the school system. The Board is hands off on day-to-day operations, day-to-day business, period.”
“If they tell us that it is handled,” he said, “I have to assume it is handled.”
Harden said later in the meeting on Monday that she would report to the Board on the findings of the outside evaluator and release the results to the public.
Citizen Comments
Esther Porter was the first of the citizens to speak, and she said she “was pleased to say that Dr. Harden has already answered my question. My concern was the mold.”
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| Fresk 7/7/2025 |
Kara Fresk followed Porter and thanked Harden for requesting the additional testing.
Fresk said more than 300 parents have signed a petition asking for the independent evaluation of the possibility of mold at Oconee County Elementary School, located on Hog Mountain Road in Butler’s Crossing.
Fresk said the parents “are asking for something simple, responsible, and proactive–professional mold testing at Oconee County Elementary School.”
Mandy Moreira, who is Parent Teacher Organization president for Oconee County Elementary School, and a frequent visitor to the school, said “we are so thankful to hear those words, Dr. Harden.”
“This has been heartbreaking, very upsetting, very stressful for the parents and the community,” she said.
Moreira reviewed the problems she said exist at the school--in the school gym, in the outside third-grade pod, where her daughter has been a student, and in the fourth and fifth grade split pod.
“It was made clear that Mr. Ryan White told me that the superintendent had the final say so on professional mold testing,” she said. “So we are thankful for Dr. Harden coming in.”
Kerry Cohen asked “that you please consider, regardless of what the number is...there is a plan of action and that we are communicated with about it.”
Ransom On Meeting
The called meeting of the Board began at 11 a.m. on Monday.
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| Ransom 7/7/2025 |
The Board immediately voted to go into executive session and returned to open meeting a little before 3 p.m.
Ransom, in a conversation after the meeting, said the Board had spent much of that time reviewing the results of two opt-in, online surveys, one of staff of Oconee County Schools and the other of parents, students, business owners, and concerned citizens.
The staff survey was completed by 340 persons, 230 of whom were teachers. The second survey was completed by 1,075 persons, 847 of whom were parents, guardians, or relatives of a student.
The survey consisted on 32 fixed-alternative questions about desired characteristics of the superintendent. The top rated item on both surveys was “Honest-Transparent.”
Ransom said the Board also “looked over” all of the 19 applicants at the meeting but the Board did not narrow down the list.
The first round of interviews will be later this week or early next, he said, and then, “depending on how that shakes out, the second round of interviews will be by August.”
“We’re still looking at September to be able to name somebody,” he said. “That doesn’t mean they’ll take the position right a way, depending on where they’re coming from.”
“Once we name a finalist,” he said, “by law, we have to put them for 14 days for the community to make comment on before the Board votes on setting them up as superintendent.”
Other Board Action
The Board also approved amended General Fund and Federal Fund budgets for the just completed Fiscal Year and received its regular financial reports on Monday.
It also acted on personnel recommendations from Harden and placed on the table for discussion numerous modifications of Board policy mandated by recent state and federal actions.
Although the Board had these documents in front of it for the meetings, and all but the personnel recommendations are displayed briefly on the screen during the meeting, the documents were not released to the public and normally are not available until the day following the meet.
Release of the official video of the meeting also is delayed by a day or two.
Reporting on the financial and other documents will follow this initial accounting of the meeting.
Video
The video below is shot from the rear of the meeting room, following the restrictions imposed by the Board of Education.
Harden gave her Superintendent Report at 14:21 in the video.
Public comments began at 46:53 in the video.
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