Parents at Del Sur Elementary School pressed Poway Unified School District leaders for answers Wednesday night after elevated mold spore counts delayed the start of classes and prompted the temporary relocation of the school’s students. The district plans to have 946 Del Sur Elementary students begin the school year on Monday at Stone Ranch Elementary School, about an eight-minute drive from Del Sur. Students are expected to remain there for about a month while mold remediation work continues. A couple hundred parents packed the Del Norte Performing Arts Center for the district’s first informational session with families since the relocation decision. Questions and complaints were shouted from the audience as parents raised concerns about the mold, the temporary campus and the disruption facing their children. “I am cancelling work to be here. I need answers,” said parent Shannon Kowal. She said she was frustrated with how questions were handled during the meeting. “They put up a QR code for us to ask questions and they just didn’t answer any of them,” she said. Kowal said she is unsure whether she wants her fifth grader to return to Del Sur even after the campus is cleaned. “How are you going to feel about your fifth grader coming back? I’m not sure that she will. Yeah, I can’t in good conscience put my child in a position to end up with life-long health issues,” Kowal said. Members of Poway Unified’s administration, including Superintendent Ben Churchill, attempted to answer questions from families. After days of positive mold tests, the start of the school year was delayed. The district identified four classrooms, the multipurpose room, the first-floor hallway and ceiling tiles above another room as positive for “moderate” amounts of mold spores. On Tuesday, the district announced it would temporarily relocate the entire Del Sur Elementary school community to Stone Ranch Elementary. Parents questioned why their children were being moved there, whether the district would determine the cause of the mold problem and how students would be affected by the disruption. “Water causes mold, it’s that simple,” said Becca, a parent. She also raised concerns about traffic at Stone Ranch and whether the relocation could last longer than the district currently anticipates. “There is only like that one street going in and out so now I am going to get tardy letters and things like that. This is going to take more than a month,” Becca said. Churchill answered questions during the meeting, but some parents left angry and confused. District leaders said they are focused on students’ education and experience during the relocation. Churchill promised families the district would provide the services and care they expect while officials work to determine the cause of the mold issue. The superintendent said the district will provide an update on the progress of mold remediation in two weeks and plans to hold another informational session before then. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC San Diego. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC San Diego journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less