PORTLAND — Hall Elementary School students will remain at Cathedral School for the rest of this week — and maybe longer — as crews continue gutting and cleaning portions of the Hall school to eliminate elevated levels of mold from the walls of a hallway and two classrooms.
Officials say they are waiting to see the progress of the cleanup and the results of environmental tests that are being done daily by a contractor. Officials plan to meet with parents later this week, at a time and place to be announced Tuesday.
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A Sept. 17 electrical fire triggered the school’s sprinkler system, which doused parts of the school with more than 7,000 gallons of water. Since Sept. 25, Hall’s 437 students have had classes at Cathedral School, a former Catholic school that has been closed since the spring.
School officials thought previously that they could allow students back into the school while workers cleaned the damaged rooms. They have since concluded that it’s better to gut and clean the rooms while the whole school is empty, and allow students to return only when the work is finished, said Peter Eglinton, chief operating officer for the school system.
“We don’t want to get in there prematurely and then have to go back in at another time,” Eglinton said. He said environmental tests have shown elevated levels of mold in dry wall, which must be removed.
Eglinton said the damage occurred in two classrooms — Room 18 and Room 20 — an office, Room 22C and a hallway.
Once the rooms are cleared of mold, he said, the rooms will have to be rebuilt. During the rebuilding, students from the two classrooms will use other rooms in the school. Eglinton said there is space in the school to accommodate them.
The school district is renting the Cathedral School and a nearby gymnasium for $500 a day. The Hall school has 24 classrooms, while Cathedral has only 14. The rooms at Cathedral are large enough to fit two classes.
Teachers are adjusting the best they can to meet the needs of the students, said Lloyd Apinall, a physical education teacher at the school. “You do what you have to do,” he said.
Principal Cynthia Remick declined to comment.
Pedro Nieves, president of the Hall Parent Teacher Organization, said teachers are helping students adjust to their temporary quarters by making the experience an adventure. In fact, some teachers have taken their students on field trips to explore the part of the city around Cathedral School.
Most parents are being patient about the situation, Nieves said. They want school officials to make a careful decision that protects the children’s health, rather than rush students back to the Hall school, he said.
Transportation is an issue at Cathedral. School officials are discouraging parents from driving children to the school between Cumberland Avenue and Congress Street because of the limited space for dropping off children.
Half of Hall’s students usually walk to school, but they are now being bused to Cathedral, so the district has doubled the number of buses serving the school from three to six.
Because there is so little space for buses at the school on Locust Street, students are dismissed one bus at a time, rather all at once.
On Monday, the last bus left at 3:52 p.m. — 32 minutes after the end of classes. Teachers carrying signs with bus numbers guided children to their buses.
“It takes forever to get out of here,” said Ann Marie Phanor, a bus driver.
Kathleen Casasa, president of the teachers union, said the union wants to talk with school officials about compensating teachers for the additional work time.
She said teachers are also concerned that, with classes ending 15 minutes later than they did at the Hall school and the time it takes to load the buses, it’s a long day for the students.
“They are experiencing stress as the result of the longer day,” she said. “And teachers are sensitive to that.”
Eglinton said the district has insurance that will cover the cost of cleanup for the Hall school and the cost associated with moving the students to Cathedral. The insurance company will also compensate the district for school supplies that were damaged by water or fire, but not supplies purchased by teachers.
He said it will take time for the district to receive the money, so private fundraising efforts — such as a Fire Relief Spaghetti Supper that parents held Friday — are helpful.
School officials have been discussing a plan that would ask voters in November 2013 to approve funding for a new school to replace Hall Elementary.
The price for a new school would be roughly the same as the price for the new Ocean Avenue Elementary School — about $15 million.
The city has already appropriated $700,000 to hire a consultant to design plans for a new school.
Staff Writer Tom Bell can be contacted at 791-6369 or at:
tbell@pressherald.com
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