Mold and moisture issues were detected inside some classrooms at Black Mountain Middle School, the Poway Unified School District confirmed in a letter sent out to families and staff on Saturday. Before the 2026-2027 school year began, visible mold was reported in Room 1016 and concerns were rais ed about Buildings 10A and 10B, according to PUSD’s letter. The rooms were recleaned on Aug.10, but mold odor consisted so classes were reassigned on Thursday Aug. 13, before the start of the school year. An independent industrial hygienist was contracted to collect air samples from classrooms. The district is awaiting for final laboratory data from the sampling, which is expected to be received Sunday Aug. 23. Initial data found low levels of mold spores in eight classrooms: Rooms 402, 807, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1006 and 1017. High levels of mold spores were detected in six 6 classrooms: Rooms: 1005, 1012, 1013, 1014, 1015 and 1016. The industrial hygienist has advised the district that the preliminary results should not be interpreted as the final assessment, that is expected to be released Sunday. The district said it will provide an update on Sunday. In the meantime, officials are working with the industrial hygienist to establish room-by-room recommendations. This is the second school within the Poway Unified School District to be disrupted by mold spore concerns. Last week, mold spores found in classrooms delayed the start of the school year for students at Del Sur Elementary. At that school, the whole school community is temporarily being relocated to Stone Ranch Elementary School for approximately one month. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less