Scottsdale school to be closed until 2019 due to damage caused by fire

PHOENIX — A Scottsdale elementary school will be closed for the entire school year due to extensive damage caused by a fire that broke out at the campus earlier this month.

In a statement, Navajo Elementary School Principal Matthew Patzlaff said children who attend the school, which teaches students through fifth grade, could continue to attend class at the nearby Oak Learning Academy through fall of 2019.

Students have been attending class at the former elementary school campus, which is located about 3 miles from the school, for about a week, after a fire broke out in a storage room in the school’s classroom building.

Officials originally said that the fire damage was limited to the room and a small area surrounding it, but Patzlaff said in the statement that three
classroom buildings suffered fire, smoke and water damage.

The fire also released asbestos into the air and onto surfaces of the affected buildings. Random samples taken from the three buildings showed an unsafe level for occupancy, he added.

The repairs were expected to cost at least $3.5 million.

Officials with the school district’s governing board were set to decide whether to repair the damaged buildings. If the board decides to rebuild the school, it would take about 18 months to be built once an architect is hired.

“The future of the Navajo campus will be part of an overall discussion the governing board will undertake this fall as it considers which schools will be the next to be rebuilt with the 2016 bond,” Patzlaff said in the statement.

The cause of the fire, which broke out on Aug. 22, has not yet been determined but officials do not believe that arson was the cause.

It was not clear how much longer students would be allowed to attend class at Oak Learning Academy.

Consultants were expected to report to the board regarding matters of consolidating schools with less than 500 students by early October.

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