Students at an elementary school in West Paris are being transferred to other buildings for the rest of the school year, after the district closed the school due to unsafe conditions.
Superintendent Heather Manchester says the closure was prompted by a state-mandated evaluation that uncovered several serious issues at Agnes Gray Elementary, including a failing roof system, waste leaking from sewer lines and unsafe emergency exits. Manchester described it as a life safety issue.
"We can't put kids at risk, or staff at risk, if we know that there's a problem," Manchester said. "Once the board sort of discussed and saw what the architects presented, they didn't feel like it would be responsible for us to have kids in the building, if they didn't have the appropriate ways to get out of the building and things like that, because of safety issues."
Students are working remotely for the rest of the week, and will then be grouped by class and sent to one of the district's other elementary schools beginning on Monday.
A report estimatesthat the total cost to renovate the school would be over $4 million.
Two years ago, the district was approved for state funding to replace the school. But Manchester said it's still at the very early stages of that process, and that any potential construction is several years away.
