By Amber Cox
CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP – Elementary school students will have a fresh start to the new year when they enter a brand new $37 million building on Jan. 5.
Furniture for the Chesterfield Elementary School on Saddle Way will be delivered by mid-December and teachers and staff will begin moving in and preparing classrooms over the winter break.
”When we move into the new building we are going to be occupying the lower level and main level, not the top floor,” Superintendent Ellen McHenry said Monday. “We can physically house all of our students and staff on the two floors. We plan on fixing the top floor and it will be ready for use the next school year.”
The Chesterfield Board of Education held a special meeting Oct. 14 to confirm that students will be in the new school for the second half of the academic year.
The new building will house up to 900 students, grades K through sixth grade for Chesterfield. A number of delays have postponed the original September opening date of the school, most recently a fire over the summer.
The fire took place on May 4 after an “ironworker using an acetylene torch was cutting structural steel accidentally started a fire on the roof of the building,” according to the presentation to the school board by Hill International, the construction contractor.
There was minimal physical damage to the building from the fire but large amounts of water from putting the fire out entered into the building causing water damage and mold. Originally after the fire the building was set to open on Nov. 1, however the date was pushed to Dec. 17 after another meeting held by the board in August.
According to the presentation, after the fire the roof was completely removed and replaced. Any wet insulation was also removed and replaced and damaged lights were also replaced. Currently the electrical system and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment is being inspected.
Superintendent McHenry said they updated everyone as to where they are in the process of completion of the building. She stated that the water damage caused some mold.
Hill International did most of the presentation at the meeting and briefed the public on the mold evaluation and testing. Representatives said that 88 environmental samples were taken from the building and tested by a certified industrial hygienist. Areas of concern were found on the third floor in drywall and one area of HVAC equipment, known as section ERV-1, the energy recovery ventilator. The drywall has been replaced and removed and section ERV-1 will be replaced in summer 2011.
ERV-1 supplies fresh air to only the top level of the building so it will not affect the lower and main levels of the building. After further testing of ERV-1 mold was found in door and floor panels and the unit must be completely removed.
However, the rest of the building is safe to occupy and this was confirmed by the industrial hygienist, county Board of Health and the township building inspector.
According to the presentation, in order to fix the unit the roof and structural steel has to be removed. The unit will then be removed and replaced by a new one followed by the reinstallment of the roof and structural steel and landscaping repair.
In the past year, most of Chesterfield students were in the old school on Bordentown-Chesterfield Road while the first and second grades were housed at North Hanover’s C.B. Lamb School.

