Mold Closes 1 NJ School, Puts 2 Others on Alert

After the wettest August in local history, NJ school district closes a school after finding mold

High amounts of mold have been discovered in three Willingboro, N.J. schools, forcing one to close for at least five days.

The Willingboro School District announced that it has found mold in the Willingboro High School, Memorial Middle School and J.C. Stuart Elementary School, reports phillyburbs.com.

The high school will be closed for no less than five days. The middle school and elementary schools remain open, but school officials say students are being kept away from the moldy areas.

"We’re gonna always put student and constituent safety first," said superintendent Ronald Taylor told NBC Philadelphia.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to mold can cause nasal stuffiness, throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, allergic reactions, eye irritation and even skin irritations. People with weak immune systems can develop serious lung infections if exposed to mold.

Though there has been no official statement linking the mold to the wettest August the area has seen in history, the high amounts of rainfall and flooding in the past month may have helped the mold growth.

This isn’t the district’s first bout of mold, reports phillyburbs.com. In 2009 the high school library was closed for two weeks after a mold infestation. 

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