Some Freehold students to be relocated after elementary school closes due to mold issue

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Some families in Freehold say they're frustrated after being told their children’s school won't be open in time for the first day of classes because of a mold issue. Parents with kids who attend Laura Donovan Elementary School were notified on Wednesday, one week from the first day of school. According to the Freehold Township School District, fixing the issue could take several months. Parents say they're now scrambling to readjust schedules and prepare their kids for relocation to a different school in the district while engineers work to remove mold that was found in classrooms. Parents first received a letter five days earlier stating that weather and summer cleaning resulted in small to moderate amounts of mold in several classrooms, but the school would reopen on time. On Wednesday, parents received another letter saying they cannot open Laura Donovan for staff and students. "Now we’re telling our kids, take all the friends that you know, all the people that you are comfortable with, you're going to leave them, you're going to go to another school with different teachers,” parent Michael Pollard told News 12. Frustrated parents say they're worried about teacher-student ratios and bus schedules. "My kids are always bussers, but no one told us about any details besides they'll know before the first day of school,” said parent Megan Porcelli. Students will be relocated to Applegate, Errickson, West Freehold and Catena schools, which are three to 15 minutes away from Laura Donovan. "While we know this is disappointing for our Donovan families, the goals remain to keep students safe and to minimize disruption to the schedules of our families,” Superintendent Neal Dickstein wrote in a statement. The school says they have a company working seven days a week to clean on the cleanup and they would share regular communication with parents. "