Tests for mold at Wiscasset Middle School found it at the lowest levels that the tests can read, Wiscasset Interim Superintendent of Schools Lyford Beverage said April 2. The readings were on tape lifted from walls in the building’s basement, Beverage said.

Following consultations with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) and other agencies, classes continue to be held in the basement, Wiscasset Middle’s interim principal Bruce Scally said April 3.

Based on the checks with those agencies, Scally said, “There’s no reason not to.”

Technician Larry Mare of the Maine Bureau of General Services’ Division of Safety and Environmental Services said he would agree with that assessment. He took the samples at the school on March 27. The readings that resulted consisted of 1’s and 2’s on a scale of 0 to 5; the 1’s mean a trace was detected, Mare said on April 3.

“A two is just above that. It’s a really low count also.”

He could go into most homes and get similar readings, Mare said.

“Of all the testing I’ve done on surface tape lifts, when we see really low counts like this, it usually just (calls for) upgrading the housekeeping.”

Mare told Beverage and the Wiscasset Newspaper that the results warrant a second phase of investigation. Beverage did not yet know when it will take place.

An  industrial hygienist who is a private contractor will need to do the next phase of testing, which involves air tests for mold and possibly testing dust or other materials for mold, Mare said. He said he provided Beverage with a prequalified list of contractors who are insured and who have undergone background checks.

The state only does the initial tests on schools and certain other buildings, Mare said. The tests the state has done at the middle school were free of charge, he said.

Beverage had no immediate information on costs the town may face in the additional testing.

The school department sought the March 27 tests following continued concerns about possible mold at the school where Wiscasset Primary School students and staff will join fifth and sixth graders next fall. Air quality tests that Mare conducted in January found low humidity, common in the winter months, and, in one room, elevated carbon dioxide levels; all other results were within guidelines, according to Mare’s Jan. 22 report.

Wiscasset Primary Principal Mona Schlein on April 3 said she and the school’s entire staff remain concerned about mold and other potential issues in the middle school building, from both a health and cost standpoint as plans continue for consolidation.

“We are all extremely concerned,” Schlein said. She said she was delighted that the department asked for the set of tests in March; she is very appreciative of Beverage’s efforts, she said. “He’s doing everything he can.”