Marion County Closes Oldest School Building

The state fire marshal's office has orderethe marion county school district to close its oldest s...  More »

The state fire marshal's office has orderethe marion county school district to close its oldest school building. an inspection in october turned up a number of problems with the old elementary school. it's now being used for special education classes and for students with behavioral problems. more from wdef news 12's bill mitchell... as we cover marion county. the state fire marshal's office in nashville arrived on october for a surprise inspection of the 60 year old former elementary school on betsy pack drive. they responded to an email complaint claiming there was "asbestos falling from the ceiling". sot---toby wilson-white, principal, marion county academy in "they came in ..they removed all asbestos..that was this summer...when people weren't here." "what happened with the asbestos, they left the signs up." principal toby wilson-white, who's been at the schoolor 11 years, said the affected area is in a part of the building that's never used. she says the work crew failed to take the asbestos signs down after the work was done. sot---toby wilson-white in "we are in compliance, we do not have an asbestos problem." although the asbestos had been safely removed, the inspector did find a number of other violations, including the lack of a fire alarm system, and the practice of hooking-up computers to extension cords. it was enough to empty these four classrooms and send about 50 students to three newer schools. sot---jim poston, chairman, marion county school bd. in"obviously, if we could jack that facility up, and move it over to one side, and put another facility in its place, everybody would be happy...but to do even that takes..guess what? ...dollars." jim poston says the fire marshal's actions will force the school board to make some hard decisions. sot---jim poston in"so, right now, we really don't know, i can't be specific with you and tell you what we're going to do, because we're got to look at the option that are available..and then go forward with carrying out a plan." both poston and principal wilson-white say no students were in danger in the old school building. in marion county, bill mitchell wdef news 12. the state fire marshal did say the building may be used again after the violations are corrected.  « Less