Spring Farms Elementary School to remain closed for 2023-24 school year

(WTAJ) — Southern Huntingdon County’s Spring Farms Elementary School will remain closed for the entire 2023-24 school year after a unanimous vote from the school board.

The decision comes after a heating oil fuel leak in January from a tank underneath the school. The school has been closed ever since.

After an original plan to reopen in November, Superintendent Dwayne Northcraft said reopening in the middle of the school year would be difficult and unrealistic.

“It’s going to be very difficult to meet timelines,” Northcraft said.

The board is also waiting for additional information from the school’s environmental engineers on the school’s air and water quality. Northcraft said they’re drilling wells to run tests on what may be in the water and what direction the flow is going.

“They’re picking up on some sheen on the water,” Northcraft said. “The board would like to see us have more information, and before we invest up to $300,000 into mitigation equipment, it would be best to know what we’re working with before moving on that investment.”

Northcraft said the plan is to have the school reopen as normal starting in the 2024-25 school year.

For the upcoming year, students will again be in the High School-Middle School, according to Northcraft, but they’ll now be in a separate wing in the building in rooms that weren’t being used before. Only the two kindergarten classes will be combined into one class.

“We’re still maintaining that three-building model,” Northcraft said. “Cost isn’t much of a factor.”

Northcraft said they’re waiting on laboratory results to see what they’re dealing with.

“On the air quality tests, they picked up on benzene, but it was below the DEP threshold,” Northcraft said. “It was primarily in and around the boiler room.”