In September, Hailey Mitkoff, a teacher at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, experienced such extreme chest pain and shortness of breath that she had to go to the hospital. She said that she had observed mold in her classroom before, and that her doctor suspected a link. Mitkoff took an allergy test that confirmed she was allergic to some molds, she said.
She submitted a complaint to Montgomery County Public Schools that detailed her hospitalization and the allergy test. It was one of several complaints reviewed by The Washington Post that staff at Sherwood have sent to head administrators, requesting remediation for what they describe as a potent mold problem. Some parents from the school have also assembled a petition requesting Montgomery County schools to conduct “urgent repairs and mold remediation.”
School administrators have acknowledged the problem. In October, Lewi Gessesse, an environmental specialist for the school system, documented visible mold growth on ceiling tiles, camera bags and some high-contact surfaces in the school building, such as cabinet doors, according to an email obtained by The Post. He advised that building services and preventive maintenance staff members should be vigilant in monitoring ceiling tiles with water damage to identify possible leaks and to wipe down surfaces that had mold growth.
“We have boots on the ground all the time,” Andrea Swiatocha, the school system’s deputy chief of facilities management, said in a recent interview. “If there truly are areas that we are missing, we want to actively address that, and we will keep working with the principal to make sure we have.”
Central office administrators say the problem isn’t unique to Sherwood. This school year, the chief operations officer said the district’s former headquarters would undergo a “deep-cleaning” from September to November to fix a mold problem. Last school year, teachers at New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring similarly reported seeing mold in some classrooms.
Montgomery Schools Superintendent Thomas Taylor addressed the issues while pitching his five-year capital improvement plan, adding that several of the school system’s 238 facilities have a “fair share of mold.” He suggested funneling $638,000 toward replacing HVAC systems in the district, saying that outdated HVAC systems have caused some of the mold problems. Under his proposal, which still requires the county council’s approval, Sherwood would start replacing its HVAC system during fiscal 2027, which begins July 1.
Eighty-one percent of Maryland’s school buildings are functionally unreliable or in need of repairs, according to a September report from the state comptroller. Taylor referenced the report in his own capital budget proposal, adding that historically, the school system has underspent on its projects.
“It’s such a big pain point that we’re actually $740 million behind in HVAC projects,” he said in October. More than 40 of the district’s HVAC systems do not function properly, he continued, “so it’s no surprise that this is an issue that keeps occurring.”
At Sherwood, some of the problems started after the lower level of the building flooded in 2018 and 2022, according to staff members, who assembled a document — obtained by The Post — that outlines some of the damage they observed. Since then, teachers have repeatedly reported spotting mold throughout the school, including this school year, said Claudia Delgado, the parent of a junior at Sherwood and the school’s parent-teacher association president. Delgado added that it is most pronounced in the lower level — the oldest section of the building.
After seeing photos and videos from staff members documenting some of the mold problems, Delgado started a petition titled “End the Neglect of Sherwood High School.” As of Friday, it had more than 560 signatures.
“My daughter spends her morning in a moldy classroom and suffers from a ‘cold’ often,” Delgado wrote in the petition. “These conditions do not create a healthy, safe and positive environment for learning.”
People exposed to mold, whether allergic to it or not, can experience irritation in the eyes, nose, throat and lungs, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Some people are more sensitive and can have reactions that mimic hay fever symptoms, such as sneezing, runny nose, red eyes and skin rash.
The EPA doesn’t have set standards for acceptable levels of airborne mold contaminants. The agency’s school guidance advises that mold should be cleaned from hard surfaces with water and detergent. It also says that some items, like ceiling tiles, may need to be replaced.
Montgomery County Public Schools has said, in a document previously obtained by The Post, that it doesn’t test for mold because there is no federal threshold. Instead, the school system follows guidance that stipulates there should be no visible mold, musty odor or damp material.
Swiatocha, the facilities management deputy chief, said the school system has three indoor air quality specialists, who assess any reports of mold, and an in-house certified team that is trained to remediate any confirmed mold problems. She added that the school system’s central office is in touch with Sherwood’s principal, and she walked through the school in November to examine some of the issues.
“In the case of Sherwood, for the most part, it is really related to the HVAC system, so while we keep solving the problem, it continues to come back,” she said. “Until we do a wholesale HVAC replacement, we’re really just Band-Aiding the fixes.”
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