Students Set to Return to Teaticket School

teaticketFALMOUTH – Two and half months after the school year started in Falmouth, about 300 students will be returning to Teaticket Elementary School.

On Monday, students will return to the school which has been closed since the summer after an asbestos problem was discovered. The students have been displaced to the Morse Pond and East Falmouth Elementary schools.

“We are excited to move the students and Teaticket staff back to their home school,” said Nancy Taylor, the Superintendent of Schools in Falmouth.

Taylor said the move is pending the approval of the town’s building inspector.

The town will use the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend to move furniture and supplies back into the school.

Taylor said the process to get the school ready for occupancy was not easy.

“The standards for schools, obviously, are very high in terms of making sure that they are healthy and safe,” Taylor said. “Going through this process and making sure we met all of the standards that were set by state agencies has been really difficult.”

The superintendent praised the community and the staff of the Morse Pond and East Falmouth schools for how they handled the inconvenience.

“The faculty at both East and Morse Pond schools has been absolutely amazing and really welcoming the Teaticket staff and the students,” Taylor said. “You know there is always a silver lining and you make something really wonderful out of a difficult challenge and that is what they have done.”

The asbestos problem was discovered this summer after HVAC upgrade work disturbed the hazardour materials.

Second, 3rd, and 4th graders have been housed at the Morse Pond School, while kindergarten and 1st grade students have been attending classes at the East Falmouth School.

Selectmen approved $300,000 in emergency declaration funds in August to be used for the clean up, but the cost grew to over $800,000.

Earlier this month an appropriation of $900,000 to cover the cleanup costs was approved at town meeting.

A transfer of $710,000 from Article 21 of the April 2006 Annual Town Meeting ballot, along with a $190,000 free cash transfer, will pay for the repairs.

Taylor said 500 recent air quality and surface sample tests have confirmed that the building is now safe to enter.

BY BRIAN MERCHANT, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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