MADISON, Wis. -- Chavez students will not have school again Thursday.

They will go back to school on Friday, but they won't be going back to Chavez, News 3 reported. Students will be assigned to various west side schools until the mold problem in their school is safely resolved.

Chavez's doors are set to reopen on Monday, Jan. 7.

At Least 14 Classrooms Are Contaminated

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Parent: "I don't know what to do ... " Teacher: "Are we safe?" Doctor: "Nobody knows what this might do ... "

Crews found more mold in the school Tuesday, prompting officials to close the school Wednesday.

Fourteen classrooms were confirmed to be contaminated, and mold was also found in some ceiling areas.

Until test results come back, no one can say for sure exactly what exposure to this mold means.

More Schools Reporting Problems

News 3 learned Wednesday that Chavez Elementary School in Madison isn't the only area school looking into mold contamination.

DeForest School District officials said they will do a major mold investigation at one of its elementary schools. ( Full Story )

Another school in Beloit, Wright Elementary, closed early Wednesday after kids developed symptoms that included nausea, headache and fever. That school will be closed Thursday so specialists can try to find the reason why about 100 students got sick. ( Full Story )

Concerned Chavez Parents

Parents concerned about the safety of their children accompanied their children to school Tuesday morning.

"I don't know exactly what to do," Jessica Lindsay told News 3. "I don't want to pull him out of school, but I am concerned about all of the sickness going on."

Parent Tom Young didn't want his daughter spending the day in one of the kindergarten classes where mold had been found.

Her class was moved to a different room -- sandwiched between two other rooms that were contaminated.

"You can't put them right above the area," he said. "They could at least move them to another area of the building. If not a different area, then they need to find a different solution."

Young told News 3 that his daughter's teacher had called him and told him not to bring his daughter to school.

District officials said while the test results on the exact type of mold haven't come back yet, they're confident everything is being done correctly to remedy the sick building and the health of everyone inside.

"At no time has any air tested out of norm," said Superintendent Art Rainwater. "We've had an aggressive approach to removing it and making it safe again."

However, until it is officially safe, parents including Vicki Zacharias said they don't want their kids entering the building.

"I'm glad they have finally said, 'Get them out,'" she said. "I don't think any kids should be in there -- whether it's here, the cafeteria or the other end of the building. If it's in one spot, it's in another -- it's in the air."

District officials hope to provide answers at an informational meeting Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the school's cafeteria.

Teachers Worried About Their Safety

Some teachers told News 3 that they wanted the school closed weeks ago.

"It was hard for me to get up this morning and feel good about coming here," said Shari Pressentin. "I will just be very honest -- I drove my daughter to school, and she begged me to call in sick."

Clean-up crews have closed off the 12 contaminated rooms, including nine classrooms.

"Hopefully during the cleaning-up process we're going to be safe," Pressentin said. "That's my only question mark. Are we safe while they're in the cleaning-up process?"

School Board member Ray Allen said he doesn't want any children entering the school for now.

"I would prefer that we get those young people out of there, get our staff out of there," he said. "Let's take a couple of days to really assess the situation and do everything we can to clean this up.

"We have the potential here -- if people are getting sick -- to have continuing litigation, to have other problems. Maybe people don't want to staff the building. We need to address this very promptly."

An industrial hygienist who was at the school Tuesday said they were able to get teachers and students out of the rooms that had mold.

"We have enough rooms that we've cleared in terms of not finding visible mold," she said. "So we've been able to juggle people around to the extent that we have enough space."

The head of the teachers union also told News 3 that he wants the building closed until everything is cleaned up. John Matthews is also asking the district for special considerations for teachers working in the building.

What Is This Mold?

The consultant hired to identify and solve the mold problem told News 3 the mold appears to be a common mold found outdoors.

However test results on samples taken from the 12 contaminated rooms won't be available for several days. The consultant said Tuesday that the mold does not appear to be toxic mold.

"We found mold. We could see it. It was visible. It was under the baseboards. It was spotty mold," Sharon Bessa said. "We can identify some of it. The key is that we found it, and now we'll cut it out. Regardless of the type of mold, it's important to get rid of it."

Bessa told News 3 that parents should watch their kids for allergy and respiratory symptoms and consult with their doctors.

How Dangerous Is The Mold?

Parents and teachers are asking area doctors how dangerous mold is, but the answer isn't clear.

UW allergist John Ouellette said that all mold releases some toxins, but only one produces the toxin penicillin. He also said it's too early to know if the child exposed to the mold will have any serious health problems.

"Nobody really knows what the combination of these things might do," Oullette said. "So this is going be a very difficult problem."

Mold is challenging for doctors to diagnose because the people are getting sick even if an allergy skin test proves negative, News 3 reported.

"The bottom line is, do they get better when they get out or get sicker when they're in?" Oullette said. "That may be as well as you can do in these situations."

Oullette told News 3 that parents know their children best, and if they think the school is causing an illness, they should see their own physician.

News 3 and Channel 3000 will have more information as it becomes available.