Gainesville ISD trustees meet Sept. 21, the day Edison students are due back after mold closure

Gainesville ISD trustees are set to hold their regular September meeting Monday, Sept. 21, according to the district's board schedule, and the district calendar lists the same day for Edison Elementary students to return to their own campus after a mold closure that began Aug. 6.

The board page gives the date only. A Sept. 21 agenda was not located in the primary records reviewed, including the district's public BoardBook postings, so the meeting's start time and any proposed decisions on Phase 2 bond pricing or Edison repairs could not be confirmed.

The district's Aug. 31 update said remediation in Edison's 37 affected classrooms was complete, with rebuilding, flooring installation and deep cleaning still ahead. That update anticipated reopening Sept. 14 if the work stayed on schedule. The district's September calendar now lists Sept. 21.

Superintendent DesMontes Stewart announced the closure Aug. 5, effective the next day, after environmental testing found mold in the six classrooms assessed first, according to the district's announcement. Gainesville ISD had brought in Farmer Environmental Group to do the testing. On Aug. 14, the district reported mold activity and related air-quality concerns in 37 of Edison's 45 classrooms and announced that students and staff would be temporarily relocated.

Edison is also among the campuses slated for construction under the school-building bond voters approved May 3, 2025. The official results show the $58,833,798 package passing 829 votes to 707. District leaders told the Parent Advisory Committee on Oct. 6, 2025, that it was Gainesville ISD's largest bond and its first since 2005. The district's tax-rate table lists the debt-service portion of the rate at $0.1030 for 2024 and $0.2425 for 2025, with maintenance and operations unchanged at $0.7552.

Phase 2 runs November 2026 through July 2028 under the district's published bond plan. It covers cafeteria and security improvements at Gainesville Junior High and a high school career-and-technical-education wing with culinary arts, visual arts, robotics and health-sciences spaces, plus a black-box theater. The board's Feb. 17 agenda proposed selecting BTC Construction as construction manager at risk for the phase and proposed reserving Phase 2 bond funds for partial replacement of the junior-high roof. According to the district's April 21, 2026, Parent Advisory Committee notes, Joe Warren reported that Phase 2 construction documents were 50% complete and undergoing cost estimating.

Edison's own bond work falls in Phase 1, scheduled May 2026 through December 2027. The plan adds eight classrooms each at Edison, Chalmers Elementary and Gainesville Intermediate, and Edison's scope also lists a secure entrance, fire alarm and public-address upgrades, a cafeteria expansion, a library addition, new flooring and a gym built to serve as a storm shelter. A Bond Oversight Committee tracks scope, schedules and spending and reports to trustees, but the district states the committee has no legal decision-making authority over the program.