Mold to Put Hold on Plans for School

A plan to turn a former city office building into a high school faces delays after construction crews discovered that mold blamed for allergic reactions in some employees is more extensive than originally thought, officials said Monday.

Los Angeles Unified School District board President Caprice Young said mold found in the city Department of Water and Power’s former haunt, the Anthony Office Building in Sun Valley, is at low levels and not a health threat to construction workers. Young said she has been assured by the DWP that the mold will be eliminated before students arrive for classes next year.

“They [DWP] have taken responsibility, and I am confident it will be fixed,” Young said.

Mold was found behind walls in three stairways after water leaked into the building from a glass atrium. The city recently agreed to sell the building to the school district for $50 million.

Crews demolishing walls on the fourth floor found mold there as well, triggering an evaluation of other parts of the building, Young said.

“It does create a short delay,” she said, noting the evaluation will be finished by Nov. 8 and may delay construction on the high school conversion project for two or more weeks.

The project is already on a tight schedule and Young said it may not be completed in time for the start of classes in July 2002.

Tests concluded the air in the building is safe and that levels of mold are lower than they are outside, said Lucia Alvelais, a DWP spokeswoman.

“They are in the process of evaluating how much mold there is and how far it is going to delay the schedule,” she said. “We have started abatement and we are monitoring air quality in the building.”

The district agreed to buy the building as part of larger efforts to create dozens more schools to relieve overcrowding. When the conversion is completed, the school will accommodate 900 students.

Angelo Bellomo, the district’s health and safety director, said he will evaluate the cleanup done by the DWP.

“We are going to ensure that the problem is sufficiently addressed before we clear the building for occupancy by students and staff,” he said.