Temple High School’s gymnasium has been closed to students and the public since Oct. 17, after mercury was discovered in the original rubber flooring under the wooden gym floor, David Goldberg, executive director of facilities and construction for the Carroll County Schools, told Board of Education members at their meeting Monday.

Board members Bernice Brooks and Dorothy Burton-Callaway were upset that they were not informed about the problem as soon as it was discovered and so were unable to talk to community members about the issue.

“In the future, would you just share something like this with us, so that when parents call us we don’t look like uninformed board members,” Brooks said. “I had several calls.”

The problem was discovered when the system tried to clean up and repair flood damage to the flooring.

“About 10 days after the floods, we noticed that the gymnasium floor, the wood floor, started bowing up,” said David Goldberg, executive director of Facilities and Construction. “We did some investigation, and apparently we had some of the flood waters get underneath the wood floor. ... Once we got part of the gym floor up we noticed some 9 by 9 tiles, which is always a red flag for us for asbestos.”

The system had the tiles and the original rubber flooring tested so it would know how to dispose of the tiles. When the tests came back, the school system was surprised to see evidence of mercury in the rubber floor under the wood. The mercury was used in the application process of the floor in the early 1960s. Now, mercury is known as an extremely toxic substance.

“It was used as a bonding agent,” Goldberg said. “When you start removing it and disturbing it, like asbestos, it gets airborne and vaporizes.”

It’s a rare incident, Goldberg said.

“The EPA doesn’t even have a written protocol in how to deal with this,” he said. “EPA’s working with us. EPD’s working with us. The Georgia School Board Association is working with us. Everybody is teaming up together.”

The system will be removing the entire floor including flooring in other parts of the building. Any soft surface, such as basketballs or uniforms, that could have absorbed any mercury will be removed and replaced. Hard surfaces, such as the bleachers, will be cleaned and tested. The cost of the entire project will be about $385,000. The removal and disposal of the flooring will cost $201,000. The replacement of floor and ceiling tiles and the gym floor will be $121,000, and replacement of the contents will be $16,000. Repairs on the outside of the building come to about $47,000. The contents will be covered by insurance. The GSBA has agreed to cover 100 percent of the removal costs of $201,000 and the cost of replacing the gym floor.

Tristar Environmental Inc., based in Norcross, submitted the low bid for the work.

“We’re at a break-even point,” Greg Denney, chief financial officer, said about the necessary work.

The Temple High School basketball teams will play at Temple Middle School until the project is completed.

Denney also presented the board with the October financial report. The system’s finances are looking good at this time of year in part because property taxes are coming in early, he said.

“I want to take a moment to recognize Vickie Bearden,” he said. “She’s done an excellent job of getting us our tax receipts as quickly as they come in. She realizes ...that we need the money as quickly as possible. This time of year, as in every year, our fund equity gets low. November is an especially tough month.”

Funding cuts at the state level have taken their toll on the system’s finances and the system had about $4.9 million in fund equity at the end of October, $436,050 less than last year despite the early tax collections.

Special purpose local option sales taxes were also down in October, dropping to $874,253. That’s 22 percent lower than October 2008 SPLOST receipts and below the $900,000 per month the system figured used to compute its bond payments. However, for the last seven months, the system has average monthly SPLOST receipts of $972,123.

The board members also heard some revisions of the school system’s workforce reduction policy. The policy would offer guidance for any layoffs the system might have to do in the future.

The new policy would be very similar to the old policy. It would remain on a point system with points being given for the certifications the employee possesses, for the years of service, for extracurricular activities the employee is paid to do. Points would also be given for performance, based on the evaluations an employee receives. An employee would only receive performance points for a satisfactory evaluation. If he or she receives an unsatisfactory evaluation, the employee would not receive the service points for that year.

The policy revisions were created by a committee of principals and employees of the school system.

David Butler, energy manager of the school system’s conservation program, told board members the program has saved the system $978,338 in its first full year. The system saved the most during the summer months of June and July in part because the majority of the system went to a four-day work week. The program cost the system $339,000 to set up and operate this year, but even with that cost it saved $541,000.