Edison Elementary students started the school year Aug. 19 in borrowed rooms around Gainesville, a week behind the rest of the district, after Gainesville ISD said testing turned up mold activity in most of the campus's classrooms. Families face new drop-off routines at several sites until the district clears the building for students to return.
Pre-K meets at the First Baptist Church Youth Center, first grade in the church's old building, and special education Life Skills students at Chalmers Elementary, according to the district. Kindergarten opened at the Boys & Girls Club and moves to First Baptist Church beginning Aug. 24, Gainesville ISD said in a later update.
The district said testing found indications of mold activity and related air-quality concerns in 37 of Edison's 45 classrooms, and that the campus would stay closed longer than first expected. Remediation and reconstruction of the additional rooms could run up to a month, the district said, adding that it asked for night and weekend crews to speed the work.
It started smaller. An indoor air-quality assessment first identified Aspergillus and Penicillium in five classrooms and Stachybotrys, the mold most people know as black mold, in one, the district said. The original plan called for cleaning HVAC ductwork, pulling carpet, replacing drywall where needed and stripping wallpaper, with each room retested before it went back into service. By Aug. 11, Gainesville ISD said those first five rooms had passed follow-up testing and the rest of the building had been tested, with results pending.
How the Edison mold problem grew
Aspergillus and Penicillium in five classrooms
The initial indoor air-quality assessment also identified Stachybotrys, commonly called black mold, in one classroom. The plan was duct cleaning, new carpet, drywall where needed and wallpaper removal, with retesting before each room reopened.
37 of 45 classrooms
Later testing found indications of mold activity and related air-quality concerns, and the district said Edison would stay closed longer than first expected, with remediation and reconstruction of the additional rooms running up to a month.
Source: Gainesville ISD district updates
Edison's campus improvement plan counts roughly 600 students, about four in five of them economically disadvantaged. Gainesville ISD lists the school as one of four Title I schoolwide campuses in the district.
Source: Edison Elementary campus improvement plan, Gainesville ISD
The building was already on the repair list. Cooke County's signed election order put Gainesville ISD's May 2025 school-building proposition at nearly $59 million, and the district's project page places Edison in the first phase of that work, from May 2026 through December 2027. Planned Edison projects include an eight-classroom addition, a secure vestibule, a gym that doubles as a storm shelter, and cafeteria and library expansions. An advisory Bond Oversight Committee monitors the voter-authorized projects and reports to the Board of Trustees.
Worn school buildings press on districts far beyond Cooke County. A Government Accountability Office report estimated that more than half of public school districts need to update or replace multiple building systems, and that 41% need HVAC work in at least half their schools. EPA guidance says water-damaged materials should generally be handled within 24 to 48 hours to keep mold from taking hold, and Texas licenses mold assessors and remediators through the Department of Licensing and Regulation.
KXII reported the temporary relocation on Aug. 14, and reported Aug. 21, in a story updated Aug. 22, that Edison had begun the year at other campuses while crews worked on the mold.
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