DYER BROOK, Maine — Students at Southern Aroostook Community School returned to the classroom Monday after snow and a boiler issue resulted in a four-and-a-half day weekend.
Superintendent Todd LeRoy said Monday that the district was finishing repairs to one of two furnace boilers at SACS after it failed on Wednesday, Jan. 3. The district sent its students home early Jan. 3, because of the boiler issue, followed by snow days on Thursday, Jan. 4,and Friday, Jan. 5, resulting in a mini-vacation for students.
“We are in the process of completing the repairs now and should have both boilers up and running today,” LeRoy said. “We were able to get by with one after the initial problem. We had a burn failure on one of our boilers and could not get it restarted and the second boiler was not heating to the level necessary to keep the school at a comfortable temperature for students and staff (on Wednesday).”
On Wednesday, Jan. 3, students were dismissed at 11:15 a.m. when it became evident that the one functioning boiler was not able to provide enough heat for the entire building, given the extremely cold weather.
He said that technicians were able to adjust the working boiler to increase the water temperature where the heat became sufficient in the school and classes would have resumed last Thursday if not for the storm.
The superintendent added he was not sure what the total cost of repairs were, but stated it would not negatively impact the school’s budget.
“One tries to maintain a budget that can handle such issues,” he explained.
SACS opened its doors in 1976 and it is believed the two boilers are original equipment to the building. The two snow days missed Thursday and Friday will be added to the end of the school year.
