PEABODY — The Center Elementary School will reopen in the fall following concerns from city officials that renovation delays would shutter the building for an unexpected second year.
The $2.25 million renovation of the Irving Street school’s heating, plumbing and electrical systems, coupled with classroom cosmetic work, closed the building for the current school year and dispersed more than 400 students to other schools.
But when a newly leaking roof on the Center School’s annex, where the city’s integrated preschool is located, and long wait times for materials popped up this winter, city and school officials worried the work wouldn’t be done in time for the first day of school. Officials revealed the issues at a Feb. 25 School Committee meeting.
Once a possible delay on the project became apparent, Mayor Ted Bettencourt wrestled with whether to share the information publicly and concern parents before a final decision on the opening date was made, he told The Salem News Wednesday.
“When I got some information about lead times and about delivery dates, I did panic a bit,” said Bettencourt, who also serves as the ex-officio School Committee chairman. “I was really worried about the time frame, and I didn’t want work taking place while students were in there.
“I did feel it was the right thing to do to just be transparent and let people know where things stood,” he said. “And you know, I feel much better. We’re in a better situation… it’s been made very clear to me that all work will be complete prior to the students going in in the fall.”
The district has been assured the delivery of an electrical panel essential to the school’s electrical system overhaul will be made in time for the project to wrap up this summer, when that didn’t seem to be the case before, Bettencourt said.
Other materials that had seemed to have long lead times will also arrive sooner than the district anticipated.
A roofing company has fixed the leaks around the annex’s skylights and city health inspectors found no signs of mold in the annex. Rugs and ceiling tiles affected by water from the leaks are being replaced and the annex is being thoroughly cleaned. The Fire Department also looked for any fire hazards caused by the leak and found none, Bettencourt said.
Despite the sudden issues with the roof, the renovation of the school will come in right under the $2.25 million approved by the City Council last year, he said.
The School Committee will likely look at redistricting some of the Center School’s neighborhoods over the next few months as the building is currently at capacity.
“We do want to reduce the number of students there, but there’s not a specific target number or anything like that,” Bettencourt said. “It’s going to be a work in progress because we want to make sure that every student that was at the Center that was relocated, they’ll have the option to come back to the Center.”
This redistricting is not citywide and would only shift some students living on streets currently sent to the Center School to other elementary schools like the McCarthy or South, he said.
Any redistricting decision will be based on parent surveys and family decisions on if their child will come back to Center in the fall or stay at their current school.
“Communications (will) be going out to the Center School parents asking for this information and where they stand with coming back or staying where they’re at,” Bettencourt said.
There will be a meeting for Center School families and community members on March 19 at 6 p.m. at Higgins Middle School. The district will provide an update on the project and show photos of freshly painted and upgraded classrooms that night.
Center School parents have criticized the district for what they called a lack of adequate communication around the project, particularly when it was announced last spring that students would have to temporarily move into other schools.
School Committee member Beverley Griffin Dunne said at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting she is thrilled with the project’s latest update and the work being done.
“We do have repair work on our own to do with the parents because we lost their trust and trust is very, very important,” she said. “I hope we can get it back. I hope they see how hard people are working to be able to make this happen.
“People are moving mountains to get (this project) done and that’s really a wonderful thing.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com.