A water leak was found at the school over the Labor Day weekend, which left as much as 2 inches of water on the second floor of the century-old facility. Initially, the damage appeared concentrated on drywall, but water was found in electrical conduits – resulting in its indefinite closure for safety concerns. Perrien said the school will have to wait four to six weeks for parts to replace damaged electrical panels and lines to arrive before replacement work can begin. The best case scenario, he said, would be a return to the building sometime around Thanksgiving.

The Red Oak Community School District cancelled classes for its high school students Monday to focus on settling the middle-schoolers into their new interim facility. The middle school students had missed four days of school last week while the district worked to reopen the building and, upon discovering the risk in the electrical system, implemented its contingency plan.