Year after mold nightmare, Tokay looking brand new

Tokay High School Principal Erik Sandstrom talks about some of the renovations done to the school after a disasterous mold problem was found last year. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Year after mold nightmare, Tokay looking brand new

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Monday, July 28, 2008 6:40 AM PDT

Comments (12 comment(s))

It's in the mid-90s on Friday as Lodi Unified administrators Art Hand and Erik Sandstrom take a mid-day trek across the Tokay High School campus.

The summer heat has most people ducking into the nearest air-conditioned building. But in the sweltering summer sun, Hand and Sandstrom take a brief moment to look through the trees near the school's amphitheater.

Gone are the construction crews, the chain-link fencing that surrounded the buildings and the piles of debris. In their place is a brand new campus with purple and gold accents and planters full of blooming flowers.

The campus is completely transformed from what it was a little more than a year ago, when district officials found out that every single classroom building was tainted with a severe mold problem.

The solution took a full year and cost $13 million, with 60 percent of that money coming from the state.

"It was an incredible feat," Hand said. "There's no other way to put it."

Construction workers initially discovered the mold in the school's science building on June 14, 2007 during a scheduled modernization project.

Construction continues at Tokay High School due to the discovery of mold in the school last year. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

The investigation that followed revealed that the fungus was growing in every classroom building on campus, and that in some areas spores had gone airborne.

Former Superintendent Bill Huyett confirmed the problem 10 days later, and the issue made statewide news. Hand would later find out the problem stemmed from a design flaw in the original building. Drainage pipes, meant to guide rain water off of buildings and onto the ground, were hidden inside the school's walls. Even worse, Hand said, the contractor had used the wrong pipes, which ended up leaking into the walls.

Because the pipes were hidden, nobody noticed the leaks for years, nor did they notice the mold and dry rot brought on by the moisture.

"Once we opened it up, we had this real fear about what we were going to find," Hand said.

In many places the damage was worse than the district thought. Mold and dry rot had not only eaten away at the drywall and insulation, it had even destroyed some of the structural supports.

District officials acted quickly. The school board adopted an emergency resolution, delaying Tokay High's start date by five weeks and bypassing a lengthy bidding process to start work on the campus as soon as possible.

Art Hand, left, the assistant superintendent of facility planning, and Tokay High School Principal Erik Sandstrom talk about the renovations at Tokay High School after the discovery of mold in the school last year. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Construction crews started tearing Tokay High apart in early July. Workers also filled the school's outdoor basketball court with portable classrooms so school could start on Sept. 4.

Construction workers labored nearly seven days a week to rehabilitate two-thirds of the campus in 46 days.

The modernization project, which was scheduled to take three to four years, was crammed into a little more than one.

Custodians moved classroomupon classroom-full of furniture and supplies as buildings began construction and then started opening back up.

"Our custodial crew moved things sometimes three times," said Sandstrom, principal at Tokay High.

Sandstrom and others wore white hard hats with purple paw prints on them to showcase their school spirit despite the difficulties.

Tokay High School's rehabilitation by the numbers

$15 million: cost of the modernization project
$13.7 million: cost to repair mold damage
$3.6 million: cost of new science classrooms
200: number of constructions workers at the site at the height of the project
46: number of days workers had to get most of the project done
5: number of weeks school was delayed
4: number of new ceramic kilns
3-4: number of years modernization project was expected to take
1: number of years the project actually required.

Source: Lodi Unified School District

As school started, students got used to the sound of hammers hitting nails and the sights of hard-hatted men scaling campus buildings.

"People had to have some tolerance," said Deanna Morrell, assistant principal at Tokay High.

At times tempers flared, Morrell said, especially when a student's schedule had to be rearranged because his classroom moved, or when a teacher just had enough change.

Overall, though, Morrell said, everyone worked together and helped each other through it all.

"What else can you do?" she asked.

Theater arts teacher Jim Jones agreed that it was a tough year, but he's thrilled with the results.

"We have a home. We have a place to be," he said, talking about the new performing arts building.

Tokay High senior Jordan Cunningham, 16, has similar feelings about the new band room.

"(It's) a million times better," she said. "It's like a (real) band room now."

The big rooms are impressive, but Hand and Sandstrom seem to take the most pleasure in the details.

Hand points out the placard that hangs near the door of each building, complete with the room number and title, Braille and a purple paw print.

He's also a fan of the light fixtures in the performing arts building.

Sandstrom takes pride in the gold lettering that labels each building.

When those were put up, "it finally started to come together as a campus," he said.

Each classroom also comes equipped with new lights, new cabinetry and an LCD projector, and the campus now meets ADA standards.

As the two men tour the campus, each finds something new to share, another detail to point out, another memory left behind from the gargantuan project.

At one point, Hand recalls a discussion with Huyett, one of those what-the-heck-are-we-going-to-do ones.

Hand told him: "We're going to take all these lemons, and we're going to make a lot of good lemonade."

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com

Reader Feedback

essayjay wrote on Aug 2, 2008 10:44 PM:

" Okay, ultimately whoever built the structure at Tokay that allowed the mold took LUSD to the cleaner. Its called graft and poor oversight. Someone got away with murder and left LUSD holding the bag with the responsibility of doing the cleanup. Now the district is in the process of building more projects and there is no one person making sure this doesn't happen again. The same probelm has showed its ugly head again and again. two example being the McNair campus with several examples of poor workmanship with leaking roofing and bad irrigation for on and over at Millswood with floors leaking moisture from underground. Now its LUSD's fault again.
LUSD simply cannot be trusted to oversee its own projects responsibly. The record proves it. "

Report Abuse

Doc Hollywood wrote on Jul 31, 2008 2:33 PM:

" Lodi High got a new gym and new lockers. What more do they want? "

Report Abuse

swimmaster wrote on Jul 28, 2008 9:31 PM:

" well being a recent alumni of lodi high i have become aware of the many problems facing the school. so that is why i brought up the situation at the school. tokay also had a recent parkinglot resurfacing. again making the school much more updated. when is lodi high going to recieve these upgrades. the parking lot is cracking beyond recognition and the look of the school appears more to me to look like a prison than a school. "

Report Abuse

Observer wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:01 PM:

" If you haven't been there I would suggest you visit the district office. It's a cement tilt-up building. The cheapest type of construction in it's day. There is absolutely nothing fancy about it. "

Report Abuse

girard74 wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:43 PM:

" As with most projects as large as improving the Lodi Unified School District, these things take time. There have been new schools built over the past ten years and a number of elementary schools are undergoing major renovations.

If, however the district offices are even nearly as opulent as one contributor suggests, then there needs to be an explanation forthcoming. Perhaps the LNS might wish to investigate this facet of the issue? "

Report Abuse

Mrs. S. wrote on Jul 28, 2008 6:37 PM:

" The campus looks great!

I was disappointed to learn that my daughter's special day class was still out in a portable, though - one even farther out than the old one! Oh, well, maybe the walk to class will count for P.E. conditioning. "

Report Abuse

KenH wrote on Jul 28, 2008 2:47 PM:

" I'm glad that Tokay High did get its much needed renovation, students need to be in a healthy educational environment, so that they can fully function while learning.

Whenever I attended classes in the north wing of the school (70s hall I called it), I would get severe headaches, I would guess not lead (or just) but also asbestos too. Any other class on the campus or PE, I wouldn't get the headaches, but for some reason, in the particular part of the building I mentioned, the headaches would come on...this was back between 98/99 and 01/02. "

Report Abuse

Oh Bull wrote on Jul 28, 2008 2:21 PM:

" Swimmaster Take a closer look when comparing schools. Tokay still has portables also. If your going to compare and worry about building why not look at the K-6 schools also that need repair and new room for students .Look at the older schools and compare to these new fancy ones.
Well said in your first post T & C "

Report Abuse

Peeps wrote on Jul 28, 2008 1:26 PM:

" The men's bathrooms at Lodi High are deplorable. I wouldn't use it if I was paid to. It is absolutely discusting that our young men are treated worse than second class citizens. Bet the staff bathrooms aren't as bad. And forget about the mess the boys make, the condition of the bathrooms is awful even when clean (if that even exists at Lodi High) "

Report Abuse

Mad Dog wrote on Jul 28, 2008 12:37 PM:

" Swimmaster: I agree that Lodi High needs work badly. However, there is another LUSD facility that is in even worse condition. The district office is a mess! The gold fixtures in the bathrooms are no longer shiny. They are almost out of silk towels to dry their hands on. It's been weeks since the carpets were steam cleaned. There is word that there may have to be cut backs in the valet parking service out front. Let's get our priorities straight first! Lodi High School can wait. Afterall, it's just kids at LHS. "

Report Abuse

swimmaster wrote on Jul 28, 2008 10:17 AM:

" great! now that tokay looks brand new we can finally put some money into making lodi high look not so outdated? maybe new class rooms, a new track, pool, tennis courts, getting rid of portables???? anything other than a new gym. "

Report Abuse

T & C wrote on Jul 28, 2008 7:44 AM:

" Children are tomorrows future! A high price to pay but I hope they will grow up to be productive to society! "

Report Abuse

Comments on this story are now closed.

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes