Damaged school being assessed

Building damage being assessed

WEST POINT — An assessment is under way to determine if the West Point Elementary can be saved after it had 12 feet of water in its basement.

Sandra DiBacco, superintendent of the Beaver Local School District, said Thursday that the structural assessment may be completed by today. She said the assessment will help to show the amount of monetary damage.

In the meantime, pupils in grades two and four will be moving to the Rogers Elementary next week. Pupils in kindergarten and grade three will move to the district’s elementary school in Calcutta.¬†One first-grade class will go to Rogers, and other will go to Calcutta.

The idea is to keep the kids in each class together, the superintendent said.

The damage occurred last weekend when a pipe burst in the basement. The water has been pumped out, but as part of the damage, the oil furnace leaked some fuel into the basement.

Staff members have begun calling parents. Informational letters will also be sent to parents.

DiBacco said that because of bad weather and the flooding, the West Point pupils will have to make up 11 days of school. But the superintendent said she will ask the Ohio Board of Education to waive the time, since the district classes normally run about six hours a day instead of the state required five hours.

All three elementary schools were completed in 1951.

The board had already planned to seek a levy this fall as the district’s match of a state bond issue to finance new buildings. Voters previously defeated the issue.