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<p>DALLAS TWP. &#8212; A mold issue at the Dallas Elementary School that closed off two classrooms plus girls and boys restrooms is addressed, but the areas will remain off-limits to students until a roof repair is complete, Superintendent Thomas Duffy said Monday.</p><p>Last week, two classrooms were closed to students when a 5-inch by 7-inch piece of wall peeled, revealing a &#8220;damaged, stained wall beneath,&#8221; Duffy said at the May 17 school board meeting.</p><p>SERVPRO was brought in over the weekend to clean, sanitize and treat the affected classroom, Duffy said Monday.</p><p>&#8220;They (SERVPRO staff) removed a section of drywall and ceiling tiles,&#8221; he said.</p><p>A mold-resistant coating was applied to the beams inside the walls, the superintendent added.</p><p>An adjacent classroom was also cleaned and sanitized as a precaution as well as neighboring girls and boys restrooms.</p><p>The four-room area is sealed off until roof repairs are made, Duffy said. A date as to when the roof work would begin was unavailable.</p><p>But Duffy said an environmental hygienist is arriving Tuesday to conduct further testing.</p><p>&#8220;It can take several days to receive the testing results,&#8221; he said.</p><p>A leak in the roof caused the mold to form, said Duffy.</p><p>At last week&#8217;s school board meeting, Dallas Elementary Principal Thomas Traver told the audience the school is a prefabricated building constructed in 1972 to house flood victims.</p><p>The roof is made out of &#8220;sandwich panels,&#8221; consisting of corrugated cardboard sandwiched between panels, said Traver. It has been repaired and re-supported numerous times, he noted.</p><p>The mold issue is just the latest in a series of issues for the 45-year-old building.</p><p>Parts for the school&#8217;s aging heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems are not manufactured any longer. And plumbing problems are common and require pulling up tiles and breaking through a concrete slab to reach pipes, Traver said previously.</p><p>School board members have discussed replacing the building for years.</p><p>Last week, board members took a step toward that goal by approving a bond agreement with PNC Bank to fund a new school to replace Dallas Elementary at a cost not to exceed $39.5 million.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_DuffyCMYK-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dallas School District Superintendent Thomas Duffy.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Eileen Godin</p><p>egodin@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Eileen Godin at 570-991-6387 or on Twitter @TLNews</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Dallas Elementary School mold issue addressed but four rooms remain closed