Before the start of school on Wednesday, August 20, many Norwin students were surrounded with confusion. The confusion came from the mold issues in the high school just prior to the start of the school year. Questions swirled on social media about whether the buildings would be ready in time? Would students be safe? Would students have to start the 2025-2026 school year online?
“I wasn’t sure if all my classes were going to be available,” junior Wyatt Huss said. “For all I knew at first, some classes just wouldn’t happen because of the mold.”
Due to the district’s quick action, Norwin High School was able to start on time, and the online class rumors turned out to be just social media rumors. The teachers did have to begin their In-Service days at the middle school while remediations at the high school continued.
The mold came about due to unusually hot temperatures and humid air in late summer. These conditions caused the high school and Knights’ stadium to grow large spores of mold in various places. Additionally, the library in the high school was one of the hardest hit locations. According to the school board meeting in August, the library had a clogged condensate line, which caused water damage and became a catalyst for a mold outbreak over a short period of time.
The nature of the issue and health risk that mold can cause, Norwin hired a professional remediation company named Belfor.
“When the issue was discovered on a Monday, we immediately contracted with Belfor,” Norwin Superintendent Natalie McCracken said in a recorded school board meeting. “Belfor offered a strong mold remediation plan.”
The mold that was found in the stadium and high school was Aspergillus penicillium. The mold is not incredibly harmful and is very commonly occurring during humid and hot conditions. To ensure the safety of students and staff, Norwin administrators brought in the previously mentioned Belfor.
Belfor removed all the surfaces of mold and cleaned the affected locations to make them safe for use again. Rigorous testing was also completed to make sure that the buildings had safe air quality levels and that no students or staff would be at risk. Norwin’s own maintenance staff also played a huge role in getting the building ready for student use. They helped clean all the surfaces, and are taking proactive measures to make sure an issue like this doesn’t come about again.
“We are grateful for the hard work of our maintenance facility members and administrators, for their proactive and responsive efforts to resolve these issues as quickly and safely as possible,” Norwin Superintendent Natalie McCracken said in a recorded school board meeting.
While the mold overall was not a good thing to happen, some new renovations are now getting underway. The stadium renovation was already planned to start when the fall sports seasons ended, but now a few early construction projects have started that will not inhibit the use of the stadium for the fall. The stadium needed help with mold for a longer time. Underneath the stadium is used by nearly every school sport, and was greatly affected by mold. A new addition to the list of exciting renovations is the library. The library was one of the hardest hit locations by the mold, which made it a great reason to start a much-needed renovation of what many students call their home during study hall.
Not all rooms affected had major damage, but still had some unfortunate damage due to mold. Some teachers lost some of their own possessions that they left in their room over the summer, including items like blankets, cushioned chairs, or even posters on a wall. Wherever mold could grow was at risk of having to be thrown out or thoroughly cleaned. While these losses were not as huge a deal as the mold in the library, they still affected the start of the school year.
Regardless of the many different effects of the mold, the district took decisive action. Due to the quick actions of administrators and maintenance workers and outside remediation groups, the 2025-2026 school year was able to start safely and on time.
