The superintendent’s office at 228 Windham Center Road is infested with an odorous mold and most of it needs to be torn down, according to a school report released last week.

The cost of treating the mold exceeds the value of the buildings, according to Brian Kenney, director of facilities and property services for the Windham School Department. The replacement building project is estimated at $517,000, and has received preliminary support from the town. The finished proposal will be voted on by the school board.

The unpleasent office is still in use until the final proposal is approved. There is a chance the mold could cause a problem for people with allergies.

The superintendent’s office, located near the town hall, comprises four buildings connected by wooden decks. One of the buildings, known as the Hanson House by the Windham Historical Society, is more than 100 years old and currently has a mold problem in the ancient basement, where old documents are kept.

“It’s a haven for mold,” said Kenney. He said they are still waiting on costs from an environmental consultant to clean up the mold.

“We want to preserve this building,” he said. “This building will not go away,” said Kenney of the Hanson House portion of the office building.

The other three sections of the office complex are modular buildings with no foundations and are doomed for the scrap heap.

Kermit Hodgdon, 80, lived in the Hanson House in the 1950s when it was used as an apartment building.

“They rented out to teachers and custodians,” he said.

While a damp basement is responsible for the mold problems with the Hanson House, Kenney said water had worked its way under the modular buildings and attracted mold spores, with a significantly high level of infestation under the building where Superintendent Sandy Prince has his office.

Kenney said a lot of visitors had complained of a foul odor in the office.

“We’ve had people report that they can smell it on our paper reports when we send them out,” said Prince.

When some of the wooden panels near the ground were removed from the buildings, a thriving mold colony could easily be seen under the building.

A test from Northeast Test Consultants revealed that a large variety of mold species were present, including the allergen cladosporium, which was not found in a control sample outside the office.

In a report to Town Manager Tony Plante, Prince said it would cost $35,000 to test and clean the mold from each of the three buildings. This includes tearing the walls apart. An additional $16,000 would need to be spent putting each building back together.

Kenney said this would not cover the cost to jack the buildings up and install a foundation to prevent future mold outbreaks.

The proposed replacement building would connect to the Hanson House and follow the footprint of the three modulars. Kenney said it would be shaped like a large rectangle and would fix some of the problems of the current office.

“During the winter time, we end up opening the doors about 50 times each day,” he said. Heat escapes when someone walks from one of the buildings to another.

“It’s just not an efficient setup, heat-wise,” he said.

Another problem is that the student services department is located on the second floor of the Hanson House. The department works with handicapped students, as well as alternative education, health services and guidance.

“Of all the departments, it’s probably the worst one we could hold on a second floor with no elevators,” said Kenney. The new building would include more office space than the current ones.

Kenney said if everything goes smoothly, the new building could open its doors as soon as October, but he said early November may be a more realistic timeline.

In the meantime, the school department has not decided where the current offices will be moved to during construction.

Kenney said possibilities include the gym connected to the town hall and portable offices like a construction site uses. He said the last option would be to use spare rooms in some of the schools.

“We’re trying to do something that won’t disrupt the kids,” he said.

WindhamMold: Brian Kenney, director of facilities and property services for Windham, shows the underside of the Superintendent’s office where odorous mold spores have been detected in high concentrations.