CARIBOU, Maine — Contractors began demolishing Teague Park Elementary School in Caribou on Friday, Oct. 16, with major demolition starting Tuesday, Oct. 19.
RSU 39 (Caribou and Stockholm) Superintendent Tim Doak said that once demolition is complete, the area will be transformed into two soccer fields between the new Caribou Community School and the RSU 39 administrative building.
Doak said that while the whole interior of the building was abated roughly two months ago, contractors found additional asbestos behind the exterior walls once demolition began.
“We can’t just tear it down like we did with the middle school,” he said. “We have to chip away at the outside walls.”
In order to ensure the building is safely demolished, a smaller excavator will need to pick apart at the outside walls in order to remove the asbestos. A larger excavator will then be able to resume major demolition of the building.
The extra work will end up costing an additional $150,000. Doak said this money will come out of the state funded project’s contingency fund and, as a result, will have no impact on local taxes.
And while Caribou Middle School demolition took only four or five days to complete, Doak said the additional asbestos removal will push Teague Park’s demolition out to roughly four weeks.
The two soccer fields are expected to be complete between spring and summer of 2021.
