English teachers in A Building were surprised to find their classrooms more humid than normal when arriving back from summer break.

The reports of musky, humid air were brought to the attention of the custodial staff who found the high volume of humidity had led to mold growth in a few locations, Director of Operations/Maintenance Tom Wagner said.

Each A building classroom now has to be air-scrubbed and dehumidified, according to English Department Chair Janet Daniels.

Air scrubbing the rooms will get rid of the excess moisture.

Wagner said that there was a growth of mold in a few locations, but they decided to disinfect the whole building just as a “precaution.”

“We are using a combination of outside contractors and in-house staff to complete this,” Wagner said. “We should be done around the end of September.”

As of now, all of the rooms with the highest mold counts have been removed.

The condensation and humidity was discovered near the end of the summer, which is why the problem wasn’t resolved before the start of school.

“I’ve been here for 11 years and every time we come back, the classroom are a little musky from being enclosed all summer,” Daniels said. “The classrooms were excessively damp this year.”

At the start of school, students also noticed a change in temperature.

“My English rooms felt like a sauna,” junior Raven Davis said. “It made my hair really puffy and my make-up really dewey.”

Some teachers were moved to the library as their classrooms were cleaned.

“We’re going to do some on the weekends, so the teachers don’t have to move,” Daniels said.

Although the cleaning plans may have seemed hectic, some teachers have seemed to enjoy moving classrooms.

“I actually thought it was fun!” English teacher Leah Sauvage said. “As an English teacher, I work closely with Mrs. Harper and Ms. Rodriguez, so it was a natural fit to work alongside them. I’ve taught in the same room for 12 years, so I enjoyed the new space and perspective.”

Daniels said that some teachers’ rooms were more damaged by the condensation and humidity than others and will need to have their carpeting replaced.

“I was out longer because the school’s maintenance team took this opportunity to replace the carpeting in my classroom,” Sauvage said. “As far as I know, replacing the carpeting with tile is an ongoing project in many of the rooms and classrooms in A-building will undergo this project throughout the year and summer.”

Wagner plans to have all of the classrooms done within the next two weeks, so that all English teachers can go back to teaching in their classrooms.

According to Wagner, this is a tedious process of cleaning, scrubbing, flipping, and repeating.

“We move classrooms out of areas, so we can do it faster,” Wagner said.

Not only does the humidity bother staff and students, but so does the bipolar temperature.

“In A building, certain parts are hot and certain parts are cold,” junior Tiki Brown said. “Towards the end of the year last year, my class was on the left side of the building and it was really hot all the time but now this year it’s really cold.”