Fitchburg public school students move in to St. Anthony School building

By Margaret M. Russell | The Catholic Free Press

    FITCHBURG – An unwanted Christmas surprise that has closed the Crocker Elementary School in Fitchburg has given the St. Anthony School building a new lease on life. On Monday, third- and fourth-graders and their teachers from the public school entered their new temporary home at St. Anthony’s on Salem Street. St. Anthony’s, a parish school, closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year.
      Fitchburg Public School Superintendent Andre Ravenelle said Monday that the people of St. Anthony of Padua Parish have been very welcoming.
    “Their hospitality has been incredible,” he said.
    He noted that Father Juan S. Ramirez, the parish administrator, even brought over a platter of cookies on the first day.
    Sometime on Christmas Day a pipe broke and water poured into the Crocker School for about 24 hours, Mr. Ravenelle explained. The school will be closed for at least six weeks for repairs, he said, so they needed to find an alternate location.
    The city school department had been in discussions with Father Ramirez about possibly leasing the school buildings for a pre-school and enrollment center, according to Mr. Ravenelle. So, St. Anthony’s was a natural place to turn in this emergency.
    The Crocker School houses 650 students in pre-kindergarten through Grade 4, according to the superintendent. The pre-kindergarten students are using the former Venerini convent on St. Anthony’s campus, he said. Students in kindergarten and Grades 1 and 2 are attending the former T.C. Passios School in Lunenburg.
    Adding to the dilemma was the fact that the school’s ceiling tiles which were soaked, contained asbestos.
    “Because of the asbestos Crocker (School) needs to be remediated. We couldn’t take anything out of the building,” Mr. Ravenelle explained.
    So teachers had to start 2018 with no furniture, no books, and none of their teaching tools, he said.
    “We have a great relationship with St. Bernard’s (Elementary School in Fitchburg),” Mr. Ravenell said. Principal Deborah Wright called him and asked what they needed and started sharing extra supplies.  
    “The teachers need it,” he said of the hospitality. “They are not at home, they have no materials, and that gets old quickly,” Mr. Ravenelle said.
    After the flood the school department had a lot of work to do to notify parents, relocate the students, rearrange bus schedules, and work with governmental agencies on the asbestos remediation. However, Mr. Ravenelle said that he was grateful that because it happened during school vacation, and the following week there were two snow days, so the Crocker students only lost two academic days.