Barack Obama Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia, has been closed indefinitely due to health concerns after workers discovered noticeable levels of mold in the basement and classrooms.
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The Daily Caller reports that Richmond Public Schools (RPS) Chief Operations Officer Patrick Herrel directed people to exit the building on Monday and said that the school would be shutting its doors.
Multiple individuals inside the school at the time, including some parents, confirmed to WRIC ABC News 8 that they noticed mold in the building, such as on laptops that had been kept in storage there during the summer.
Richmond City School Board member Ali Faruk told CBS 6 that a broken heating and cooling system (HVAC) and a leaking pipe caused moisture to build up over the summer.
Faruk explained, “It was a wetter summer than we usually have, a hotter summer than we usually have, and an HVAC system that wasn’t working properly. So, sadly, all those came together to create the perfect awful soup for the looming … mold in a building that already had a proclivity to mold.”
This elementary school had been open since 1922.
In 2018, it changed its name from J.E.B. Stuart to Barack Obama “home of the Obama Stars.” Lol https://t.co/E6zIjpD6Gh
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— Breccan F. Thies (@BreccanFThies) August 24, 2026
In a statement released Monday, RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said that the school’s teachers and staff had “found additional areas of mold growth” in some areas of the building, such as “behind bulletin board paper.”
Kamras added, “Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to send everyone home so we could thoroughly re-clean the newly identified areas and perform additional antimicrobial fogging. We will then retest every single room in the school.”
According to WWBT, Kamras says the school division is working to get Clark Springs Elementary School ready as a temporary space and will have more information for parents on Tuesday.
Barack Obama Elementary Parent Jason Farneth told WWBT the whole thing has “been a roller-coaster” as his family was preparing to walk their two boys to school Tuesday and that he’s scrambling to figure out a plan for the rest of the week.
WWBT reports that last week, the school held its open house outside after mold and rodent issues were discovered.
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