Mold cleanup at Willowridge High School should finish by October, and Fort Bend ISD has no plans to close either Willowridge or Marshall high schools, school district officials told a Missouri City crowd Monday. On the night before the first day of school, FBISD officials fielded questions from parents and community members who showed up to Christian Bible Church for a community forum about the mold contamination at Willowridge. Oscar Perez, FBISD’s chief operations officer, said Willowridge students and staff should be able to return to the school from Marshall—where they have been moved for the start of the year—by early October. Mold remediation crews are working 24 hours a day to get Willowridge ready, Perez said. Superintendent Charles Dupre told the crowd of about 60 people that even though enrollments at both Willowridge and Marshall high schools are below their capacities, the district has no plans to close either school. “Since I’ve been here, there has not been one single conversation about closing Willowridge,” Dupre said. “Yes, there will be a Willowridge and yes, there will be a Marshall.” Perez said 90 percent of Willowridge was affected by mold that was found in June during maintenance and repair work at the school. He said experts hired by FBISD will determine which items in the school need to be replaced and which items can be cleaned and reused. Perez listed porous materials as examples of things that will need to be discarded. “All desks will need to be replaced,” Perez said. “A lot of paper material, too. Most of the technology will not be replaced.” In response to questions about repair and remediation costs, Dupre said the $7.5 million to eliminate mold and clean up Willowridge would come from the district’s major maintenance fund. Insurance will likely not cover any of the costs because the mold was not caused by a catastrophic event, he said.