Parents press district after Open Classroom sewer failure; district says agency testing will decide return timeline

Parents and staff raised safety concerns at the Salt Lake City School District board meeting Monday after an emergency sewer failure closed Open Classroom and prompted a temporary relocation of students.

"I do not feel that a week is enough time to properly perform the repairs and sanitize the facility," said parent Brian Iverson, who described an afternoon evacuation and said district facilities staff had not provided a clear timeline or documentation of the repairs. Iverson said he had been told the district was coordinating testing but later saw reporting that the health department was not involved.

Facilities director Isaac Astell told the board staff used smoke-testing and manual inspection to locate a cracked cast-iron sewer pipe under the building. Contractors removed contaminated material, replaced the damaged section with PVC and conducted baseline air-quality checks. Astell said the district has arranged additional agency testing and will not allow students back into the building until outside agencies clear the facility. "We're not going to put anybody in the building until we get positive feedback from them," he said.

District staff said remediation included cutting a floor access hole to reach a confined underground pipe corridor, removing contaminated material using licensed contractors and replacing the 8-foot damaged cast-iron section. Air-particle testing was performed; initial readings reported by the facilities team were within typical indoor ranges for the particle sizes they measured. Astell said both the local health department and the state's risk team will run follow-up tests.

Board members asked about communication with parents and with the charter-operated Open Classroom. Communications staff said they sent an initial notice to families and teachers the day the issue was discovered, followed up on Friday, and planned an additional update after agency inspections. The district also confirmed it is responsible for maintaining the charter school's building systems under its facilities agreement and that remediation costs for building systems are district expenses.

Acting on the timeline presented by facilities, the district planned an online learning day followed by agency testing; if agencies clear the site, students could resume in-person instruction. The board requested continued updates to parents and asked that the district confirm testing results and remediation documentation in writing.

For now, the district is keeping students out of the building until the health department and state risk officials complete inspections and sign off.