MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Shelby County School District closed Peabody Elementary School after mold was found Friday.

Peabody Elementary School in the Cooper-Young District had no class for students, but cleanup crews were in the building.

“I was surprised to see when there were no teachers or cars on the lot this morning and surprised when I started seeing people showing up in work trucks,” said Alan Ensminger, a neighbor and retired teacher.

Friday morning, MSCS Facilities crews, along with Shield Environmental Services, were on site to begin the process of removing the mold and cleaning the building.

Thursday evening, the district sent an email to Peabody Elementary Families.

It says the school will be closed Friday, Sept. 8 due to the detection of mold in some of the vents and grates on the first floor of the building.

The mold was noticed by staff following recent storms and was confirmed by the District’s facilities team.

MSCS says it has developed a four-step plan to address the issue:  Mitigation, Testing, Deep Cleaning, and Conducting Air Quality testing over the next 90 days.

“I think it’s wonderful they’ve gotten on it right away. I’m a former school teacher and oftentimes repairs are left until it’s too late and to see the system jump on it right away, I think is marvelous,” said Ensminger.

Peabody Elementary was built back in 1909. MSCS says it is one of the 33 schools in the district that is more than 70 years old.    

The District says it will continue pushing for funds to replace and repair the aging infrastructure and will continue addressing the issues at Peabody.

MSCS says their facilities crews and outside contractors will work throughout the weekend at Peabody Elementary.

The district says it will also reach out to families Sunday night to update them about air quality retesting and whether there will be classes on Monday.