Courtesy photo The new Escanaba football logo has been unveiled.

ESCANABA — After a second round of air quality tests, the locker room facility on the Escanaba High School football field known as the “Igloo” has officially been re-opened. Escanaba Superintendent Coby Fletcher updated the Escanaba School Board on the facility’s status at the regular board meeting Monday.

“The long and short of it is, we got the testing back last week and the results were very, very, very good,” said Fletcher.

In July, the Igloo was closed after air quality tests conducted by Tri-Media showed high levels of mold throughout the facility. The main causes of the mold invasion and growth were water leaks, dirt and grass from football player’s cleats mixing into old carpeting, roof leakage and poor ventilation.

A second round of air quality tests were conducted last week. The test results gave players and coaching staff the thumbs up to move back into the locker room. Due to the closure, football players had been using temporary tenting units to change in until the mold issue was resolved.

“We’ll all miss the tents but we’ll be happy to be back into the Igloo,” said Fletcher, adding the Igloo re-opens just in time for the Eskymo’s first home football game on Friday.

Prior to clean-up, a 79-page report came back that showed high levels of various types of mold including Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Penicillium, Hyphal elements, Chaetomium, and Stachybotrys. Each kind of mold is grown and found when high water damage is prevalent, along with plant and soil debris that may be inside a building.

Since the results of the first set of air quality tests, the structure has undergone mold abatement and a serious deep cleaning.

“We had mold in certain areas as high as 71,000 parts per million, but we are now down in all of our areas to zero, actually, for some things,” said Fletcher. “The highest that came back was 200 parts per million, which is actually extremely low. So, in the professional opinion of Tri-Media… it was ­absolutely time to allow students back in.”

Pearson Asbestos Abatement, Inc. was in charge of the mold abatement process. In total, the abatement and re-mediation of the Igloo will cost an estimated $14,000. During this process, all of the old carpeting was removed along with effected ceiling tiles and drywall.

“If you’ve been through there recently and had an opportunity to sniff the air, it doesn’t even smell like a locker room anymore,” said Fletcher. “It looks really good.”

To cause the least disruption to players and coaching staff during the football season, Fletcher said some temporary fixes will be put in place at the facility, including temporary carpeting and rubber matting that will drain in certain areas of the structure to reduce the chances of people slipping on the bare, concrete floors.

“We are looking at moving forward and doing really minimal things to keep that facility open,” said Fletcher.

Fletcher said the district will have to look into bigger investments to make sure the situation isn’t re-created in the Igloo. Purchasing three commercial dehumidifiers will be one major expense, noted Fletcher. Each unit will cost around $1,200 a piece making it a total $3,600.

According to Fletcher, this money is within the budget so there should be no problems getting the dehumidifiers and making sure the Igloo is safe for athletes and coaches.

Other fixes will include replacing the old carpeting with a different option, such as a less porous carpet, and making sure there are no further leaks within the building.

In other action, the board accepted a bid request for two new boiler systems that will be installed at Soo Hill Elementary School. Fletcher explained that two existing boilers at the school are not functional and because of their age, it would cost more to fix them than to replace them.

Board members also approved the hiring of two employees: Leah Berube as a cook helper at the Escanaba Senior/Junior High and Elizabeth (Shayne) Dix, who will serve as the varsity sideline cheerleading head coach.

The school board also approved to switch on of the meeting dates for the month of October. The current schedule reads having a regular meeting on Oct. 16, but the date has been pushed back to Oct. 23 at 6 p.m.

Open houses throughout the Escanaba school district will also start next week. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, Aug. 29 — Opening day breakfast at the Senior High at 8 a.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 29 — Escanaba Upper Elementary, 4:30-5:30 p.m.; Escanaba Student Success Center, 4:30-5:30 p.m.; Soo Hill Elementary School, 5-6 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 30 — Junior/Senior High School, 5-6 p.m.; Webster Elementary School, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Lemmer Elementary School, 5:30-6:30 p.m.