GARDINER -- Indoor air quality testing found small amounts of mold in a section of Gardiner Area High School but local officials do not believe it poses an immediate health threat.

Air and swab samples were taken March 16 from areas of Gardiner Area High School that apparently got wet due to faulty siding installed on the school's 10-year-old technology wing.

Icon Environmental Consultants found one spot, above a first-floor hall drop ceiling, where the newer wing of the building joins with the older section, that had "a heavily abundant presence" of mold. The Augusta-based company's report recommended that area be addressed soon.

An examination also found water penetrated the siding, plywood and, in some cases, insulation and drywall elsewhere.

Superintendent Paul Knowles said the worst area has already been sanitized with an anti-fungal spray and, overall, the tests did not indicate the health of students or staff were at risk.

"We did find some mold on the plywood, which was not a surprise to us," Knowles said at a School Administrative District 11 board meeting Thursday. "We found some things, but they are minimal. Inside and outside, our air quality is good. There were no life-safety issues. There is no immediacy at this point."

Officials believe water leaked into the walls due to improperly installed siding that one architect estimates would cost about $610,000 to remove and replace.

SAD 11 is also looking for ways to pay for that work.

Some board members are hopeful, they said, that because the tests indicated no immediate threats, so the district may have more time to find funding.

If a bond issue approved by the Legislature recently is passed by voters, it could free up Revolving Renovation Fund money for the job.

"Obviously it's good news if there are no life-safety issues," said Steve Hunnewell, a board member from West Gardiner elected earlier in the meeting as vice chairman of the board.

Knowles said some plywood underneath the outside layer of siding was wet even on a side of the school that representatives of the siding manufacturer had observed and approved as their siding was installed. The company that made the siding has blamed the installer -- Granger Northern, which has since gone out of business.

In addition to Hunnewell's election as vice chairman of the board, board members elected Dick Rogers, also of West Gardiner, as chairman.

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com