> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.richmonder.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# After mold issues, RPS outlines initial plan to prevent future school building problems
- URL: https://www.richmonder.org/after-mold-issues-rps-outlines-initial-plan-to-prevent-future-school-building-problems/
- Published: 2026-09-17T14:34:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-17T14:34:47.000Z
- Description: The facilities team has so far identified three main takeaways from the year’s first week of school.
- Author: Victoria A. Ifatusin
- Tags: Education, #the-bridge

After the brief closure of Barack Obama and Bellevue elementary schools at the start of the school year due to a presence of mold in both buildings, Richmond School Board members have called for more awareness of school building conditions.

“Regarding the continuous feedback we’ve heard regarding our facilities … my ask is that we just continue to make sure that \[a facilities update\] is on our agenda every month, school by school,” said 7th District Representative Cheryl Burke at a September Board meeting.

Katie Ricard (2nd District) agreed, adding that the administration should present lessons learned from the series of events and measures put in place as a result. 

At a recent School Board Facilities Committee meeting about a week later, Chief Operating Officer Patrick Herrel and Interim Facilities Director Harry Chargois presented an early view of just that.

The facilities team has so far identified three main takeaways from the year’s first week of school that will be implemented as part of a preventative plan:

- active monitoring of each HVAC system for every school to ensure systems can monitor temperature and humidity, and potentially dehumidify if humidity levels are high,
- detailed protocols, inspections and checklists over the summer that will not only check for cleanliness, but also moisture, which would later be communicated with school-based staff, and
- more intentional search of sources for moisture, like in windows and ceilings pipes.

Herrel said that the new procedures will help administrators identify gaps that would cost significant money for the division to address, but also be more proactive with potential HVAC issues before things go awry.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/09/IMG_2780.jpg)

The Richmond School Board's Facilities Committee wants steps put in place to ensure better maintenance. (Victoria A. Ifatusin/The Richmonder)

Another byproduct of the aftermath will be dashboards showing updates like mold monitoring within the buildings, a request made by Superintendent Jason Kamras, Herrel said. Dashboards will also exist for “general preparedness to open” for departments across the division. It is unclear if the dashboards will be available to the public.

Just a few weeks before, Director of Internal Audits Ziauddin Ahmed told Board members that the facilities team has “zero preventative maintenance activities” – a comprehensive list of all facilities within the division detailing the status of every aspect of a school building and conducting a routine check of those things. Matthew Percival (1st District) asked that the facility’s plan be aligned with the auditor’s findings.

[Facilities Department had ‘haphazard’ processes and lacked work order controls, RPS audit findsThe department failed to use the maintenance management platform that was implemented about four years ago.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-1-92733967-1a3b-405d-80ae-f79360eaf5e4.png)The RichmonderVictoria A. Ifatusin![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/thumbnail/facilities-audit-1--1--df010c32-fcb4-4373-a8a8-970fb85facac.jpg)](https://www.richmonder.org/facilities-department-had-haphazard-processes-and-lacked-work-order-controls-rps-audit-finds/)

Committee Chair Stephanie Rizzi (5th District) said that while she acknowledges that the division is in need of more funding to address the division’s aging buildings, she’s frustrated that the division “is always reactive” to school facility mishaps. 

“As a way of trying to create a system here, it might be best to think about things we may want and when we may want to see them,” she said. 

She added that the Board should create a master calendar that would contain scheduled reports for certain months, like a mold report in July before school begins or a heat report in November before the winter time, which other members agreed to. 

Board members came to the meeting filled with questions – some of which came directly from their constituents in messages and phone calls – for Herrel and Chargois, varying from whether teachers should continue to use air scrubbers bought during the pandemic to staffing within the facilities department.

The facilities team currently has a total of 10 open positions. Four of them are custodian positions, and another three are HVAC technicians, Chargois told Board members. He said he has been working all summer to recruit employees, especially HVAC technicians. But a big barrier to that is that the department is also competing against private-sector companies for the same individuals.

Understanding funding and budgetary constraints, the facilities team has so far implemented some inexpensive tools that could help make preventative maintenance more achievable. For example, Chargois said each classroom in Barack Obama Elementary School has humidity and temperature sensors that will allow teachers to self-report any potential concerns.

The division has also so far applied for a government grant that would provide $3 million each for G.H. Reid and Elizabeth D. Redd elementary schools – which had mold issues at the start of the last school year – that would give them each a dedicated outside air unit that would balance humidity and other air problems inside the buildings.

Long-term, Herrel said that the department will need to “slowly and consistently be strategic about the changes to our HVAC systems,” which will be dependent on capital funding. 

“I think short of those sorts of larger investments, we are going to have to be incredibly proactively diligent about human-focused monitoring,” he said. 

The facilities team will provide a more comprehensive update for the full School Board within the upcoming months. 

*Contact Reporter Victoria A. Ifatusin at* [*vifatusin@richmonder.org*](mailto:vifatusin@richmonder.org)