Four parents at the Nov. 18 Northampton Area School District Board of Education facilities committee meeting said their children, who attend Franklin Elementary School, have respiratory problems. One of the parents, Dale Wagner, said there is a group of 20 to 30 concerned parents of Franklin students.

At the meeting, Superintendent of Schools Joseph S. Kovalchik said the administration would do additional indoor air quality (IAQ) testing at Franklin.

When contacted by The Press Nov. 22, Kovalchik responded via email:

“The Franklin building had a pipe leak which occurred in July of this past summer. The library, which is located in the basement, had the most damage. The district maintenance and custodial departments, in collaboration with EnviraHealth, our consultant, addressed this issue.

“After the work was completed in the library, EnviraHealth conducted an IAQ test in the library. The students and staff were kept out of this area until the results were returned to the district. Those results came back negative, which means the IAQ results were at normal levels.

“The administration did not have any additional reason to believe there were concerns because no complaints were reported until Nov. 15 by two individuals to members of the board of education at the end of the school day. Additional discussion was held at the district’s facilities committee meeting Nov. 18.

“Upon hearing of these additional concerns on the dates listed above, more tests will be conducted to double check the first test results. Upon receiving those results, we will follow the recommendations by the experts.

“The district also conducted another internal review of the library, and nothing was found at this time. With all of this being said, attendance rates for the staff and students are normal. We have not seen an increase in absences in the school.”