Unseasonal wet weather has been blamed for mould issues in at least two ACT public schools after WorkSafe intervened at Dickson College.
Education Minister Yvette Berry said she was made aware of black mould and possum excrement at Dickson College at 6pm on Friday.
Worksafe ACT issued a prohibition notice to the college, barring students and staff from the affected buildings until the cleaning was complete.
Palmerston Primary School also had to be treated with air scrubbers after small areas of mould were found in most of the older buildings on site earlier this month.
Ms Berry said the Education Directorate was aware of the possums in Dickson College for some time and had a plan to deal with them, while the mould had been caused by recent wet weather in Canberra.
"It does happen across our community and buildings, both public and private," she said.
"I would be more concerned if schools didn't report issues to either the education directorate or WorkSafe if they thought it was serious."
Opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the situation at Dickson College was unacceptable.
"The failure to properly maintain Dickson College so that is a safe place is unacceptable and highlights the appalling neglect the ACT Government has allowed across older government schools in Canberra," Mr Hanson said.
"Teachers and students across ACT schools are now paying the price for the real funding cuts from ACT Labor and Greens over the last decade with overcrowded and run down schools and a critical teacher shortage."
Australian Education Union ACT branch secretary Patrick Judge said when issues in buildings become apparent, they should be addressed before WorkSafe is involved.
An Education Directorate spokesman said the unseasonal wet weather across eastern Australia had driven mould growth in many buildings, including schools.
"It is not uncommon that schools would experience mould issues in these conditions, on varying scales," the spokesman said.
"As these issues arise, they are addressed through existing maintenance mechanisms at both the school and Directorate level. Appropriate independent expertise is used to assess and develop response plans to these issue as needed."
Ms Berry said $15 million had been allocated to remediate hazardous materials in schools above the maintenance budget.
Dickson College principal Craig Edwards said in a letter students and staff would be doing some online classes and working from home while the affected buildings were closed.
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