Edison Elementary Opens the School Year Across Town as Mold Repairs Go On

Gainesville ISD's youngest students started the school year Wednesday, Aug. 19, in churches and a community building around town, because Edison Elementary remains closed while crews clear mold from the campus.

The district said air-quality testing turned up signs of mold activity or related concerns in 37 of the 45 classrooms at Edison, its pre-K through first grade school at 1 Edison Drive.

Pre-K opened at the First Baptist Church Youth Center and first grade at First Baptist Church, according to the district's announcement. The special education Life Skills class went to Chalmers Elementary. Kindergarten started at the Boys & Girls Club, and Gainesville ISD later said those classes move to First Baptist Church on Monday, Aug. 24, after staff took a second look at how much room students and teachers needed.

Word of the problem came Aug. 5. Indoor air-quality testing had found varying levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium in five classrooms and one room positive for Stachybotrys, commonly called black mold, the district said. Edison closed the following day so the rest of the building could be tested, the results read and any repairs finished.

The work list the district published covers cleaning HVAC ductwork, replacing carpet in the impacted rooms, replacing drywall where it is needed and stripping wallpaper. No classroom goes back into use until it passes post-remediation testing. Gainesville ISD said the added remediation and reconstruction could run up to a month, and that it asked its environmental team to push the schedule with night and weekend crews.

By Aug. 11, the first five rooms had been cleaned and had passed follow-up testing, the district said, with the other 39 tested and results pending.

Mold needs water to grow. CDC's NIOSH says indoor molds require moisture along with a carbon source from building materials, and that excess moisture is generally the major cause of growth. EPA guidance written for schools puts prevention on moisture control, including holding indoor humidity between 30 and 60 percent through ventilation, air conditioning and dehumidification.

Older school buildings carry that risk widely. The Government Accountability Office estimated in 2020 that a little over half of public school districts needed to update or replace multiple building systems, and that roughly four in ten needed HVAC work in at least half their schools. Another Texas district is working through the same August. Friendswood ISD held Westwood Elementary back while its other campuses started Aug. 18, then said all 26 areas tested met air-quality standards and set Westwood's first day for Aug. 24.

The closure follows a year of measured gains at the campus. Gainesville ISD reported that Edison climbed 28 points in the state's 2025-2026 accountability ratings, moving from an F to a B, as the district's own score rose to 69. Edison also sits on the district's 2025 bond list, with an eight-classroom addition, a gym that doubles as a storm shelter, a cafeteria expansion and new flooring among the projects. Cooke County's signed order called that bond election, for about $59 million, on May 3, 2025.