Poway Unified School District will hold a special facilities workshop on Thursday, Sept. 24. The session comes as roughly 840 Del Sur Elementary students remain displaced by a mold problem that has pushed their return to January 2027 at the earliest.

The district's board meeting calendar lists the Sept. 24 session as a "Special Meeting — Facilities Workshop." No agenda, start time or location had been posted as of Saturday, Sept. 12. Regular board meetings are held at 6 p.m. in the District Office Community Room at 15250 Avenue of Science in the Carmel Mountain Ranch area of San Diego.

The workshop comes less than three weeks after district officials told Del Sur families on Sept. 4 that the campus would not reopen on Sept. 21 as previously planned. The root cause of the mold appears tied to the school's heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Remediation will include removing all existing carpet, replacing flooring, installing new interior finishes and moving all furniture and classroom contents into storage.

District officials wrote in the Sept. 4 message that January is a planning target, not a deadline that would override the work. They said the campus would not reopen simply to meet a projected return date.

Del Sur students began the school year on Aug. 24 at Stone Ranch Elementary in 4S Ranch on a staggered schedule. Stone Ranch students attend from 7:45 a.m. to 2:05 p.m., and Del Sur students attend from 8:45 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. Seven portable classrooms arrived at Stone Ranch to replace classes previously held at the 4S Ranch Boys & Girls Club.

Superintendent Ben Churchill told parents at an Aug. 19 information meeting at Del Norte High School that the mold issue has been a recurring problem since 2023 and 2024. Associate Superintendent of Business Support Services Eric Dill said at the same meeting that the district needed to find the cause of why the problem persists.

Parent Shannon Kowal, whose fifth-grader attends Del Sur, told the Union-Tribune after that Aug. 19 meeting: "I wish I could believe this will be solved because that's what the children deserve."

Mold concerns extend beyond Del Sur. Air samples taken Aug. 15 and Aug. 18 at Black Mountain Middle School in Rancho Peñasquitos found four classrooms with high mold spore levels and two with moderate levels, according to Fox 5 San Diego. Stachybotrys, known as black mold, was not detected.

The facilities discussion also follows the district's May 2026 decision not to pursue a bond measure, citing community sensitivity to tax rates. PUSD said at the time that it is updating a comprehensive Facilities Master Plan to assess the condition of every campus. Community survey respondents ranked health and safety upgrades, especially HVAC and roofing, as top priorities, according to a district announcement.

The total cost of Del Sur remediation was still being determined as of Sept. 6, according to PUSD spokesperson Josué Reyna.

The next regular board meeting after the Sept. 24 workshop is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 8.