Federal environmental officials Friday found methane leaking into Ironton High School, prompting sanitation crews to patch a roof drain where sewer odors had been entering the building.

Saturday, December 02, 2000

Federal environmental officials Friday found methane leaking into Ironton High School, prompting sanitation crews to patch a roof drain where sewer odors had been entering the building.

"The problem has been fixed but there will be no school Monday," superintendent Steve Kingery said.

Instead, the school board will host a public information meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the school auditorium.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ohio EPA, National Engineering from Columbus and school officials will make presentations. State health officials also have been invited.

"The city health department has already indicated they deem the building safe to open back up," Kingery said. "But we want to tell people what we found first and then open it."

School officials closed the building Friday so maintenance crews, city sanitation workers and National Engineering could inspect and try to track down the odor.