St. Paul to spend $7 million to get 4 schools ready for reopening

From The St. Paul Pioneer Press: The St. Paul (Minn.) public school district is investing nearly $7 million to renovate four shuttered schools scheduled to reopen in 2013. District officials say they did all they could to ward off mold problems during the humid summer of 2011 -- and addressed them promptly that fall. Several district employees say the district "mothballed" the four schools in a hurry without a solid maintenance plan. They say insufficient ventilation and miscommunication may have swelled the mold bills. The four schools to reopen—Ames, Sheridan, Prosperity Heights and Roosevelt—were built between 1916 and 1956.

Earlier....

From The St. Paul Pioneer Press: Riverview Elementary School in St. Paul, Minn., is moving next year to a larger home nearby. The now-shuttered Roosevelt School building, about a mile north, will receive a $3 million makeover to accommodate the 330 students now at Riverview. The existing Riverview building will be converted to space for early childhood and community education programs.