Students back in classes after fire

Monday morning fire at Scarborough school kept students out for a day

Students at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough had an unexpected long weekend.

Students were back in class Tuesday after a small fire broke out early Monday morning in the main office of the high school located on Birchmount Rd. According to the school board website, students will be relocated to John Buchan Senior Public School and Pauline Johnson Public School for today’s classes.

“Basically we are using any space that isn’t ruined,” says Sandy Lui, secretary at Leacock. “The right side is Buchan and the left side is Leacock. We also have shared spaces — our auditorium and gym spaces are shared.”

With the school closed, school board officials and insurance adjusters were able to assess the scene and determine how much damage the school sustained.

According to principal Anita Wong, students have been given an updated classroom list for classes during their time at John Buchan.

A newsletter went home with students today from Wong addressing the situation.

Wong writes that the fire was contained to the main office area, though the cause of the fire is still under investigation. The office and closely affected areas will remain closed until further notice for clean up and repair.

Wong says that the classrooms were not affected by the fire, but smoke did enter the ventilation system, which would need to cleaned out before classes resume.

Air quality tests are scheduled to be conducted before the re-opening of the school to ensure the safety of its staff and students.

The school will remain closed for the rest of the week. Though, there is still no word yet on when it will re-open.

About this article

By: Dannika Russell
Copy editor: Patrick Rail
Posted: Apr 14 2015 3:14 pm
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Filed under: News News Briefs
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