After worried Montevallo Elementary School parents approached the Shelby County Board of Education to share their concerns about mold and snakes in the school, school system officials sprang into action.

The system hired ServPro and ERG Environmental to evaluate the school’s air quality and clean the building, if necessary. Those evaluations led to students in five classrooms being temporarily relocated to portable classrooms. Stachybotrys mold spores, which are caused by moisture, were found in one classroom in the fifth grade wing. Four more classrooms in the same wing were relocated as a precaution.

The moisture was caused by a drainage problem, which became an issue after recent heavy rainfall.

A construction project will soon begin to permanently correct the drainage issue, and students will be able to return to classrooms that will be safer, with administrators and teachers who will be more informed about the dangers of mold and moisture.

The Board of Education also brought in a pest control expert to check on the possibility of snakes or other pests, as well as sending the school district’s custodial staff to fix “everything that needs to be fixed” at Montevallo Elementary, including general maintenance and wear and tear.

Montevallo Elementary is an older building, but as the school system showed through its work, there is no reason why it can’t be just as safe and sound as any other school in the system.

It is essential that any Shelby County school be a safe, healthy environment where students and staff can thrive. Montevallo Elementary parents, through their concern and involvement, helped the school take a major step toward maintaining that environment.

We encourage all Shelby County parents to stay involved, identify needs at our local schools and work to fix them. If parents work to help their children stay safe and healthy, that effort will roll over to helping other children as well.

The We Say is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.