Thieves and vandals have caused more than £2 million of damage to a Fife school.
Lead integral to the design of Methilhill Primary’s glass roof has been stolen in a series of raids, causing water to flood into the building.
Fife Council is taking a series of urgent, temporary measures to ensure the school is safe and watertight, but has admitted the 430 pupils and staff will have to be decanted while permanent repairs are carried out.
Education chairman Douglas Chapman said “extensive discussions” would be carried out with parents to ensure the building works do not affect the children’s education.
However, he added that a temporary campus would have to be found to allow school life to continue during the remedial works.
The unwelcome repair bill has come at a time when the council has been forced to make budget cuts across all departments and capital budgets are under review.
Nonetheless, the £2 million will have to be found within the council’s own finances.
“To find another £2 million from reducing budgets at this time will be very difficult, but it’s something we’ll just have to do,” Mr Chapman said.
Methilhill Primary is only around 20 years old. In a bid to create an open, airy atmosphere, the top half of the building was made from glass panels held together by lead.
However, lead is an increasingly valuable commodity and thefts of it are becoming more common, with Dunfermline’s Glen Pavilion and Happit store also being affected recently.
Police are investigating the incidents in Methilhill, and say local youths have been charged. Security has also been stepped up at the school.
Mr Chapman said, “With the lead gone from the roof, there are situations where they are not catching water in buckets, they’re catching it in wheeled bins.
“That’s happening in storage areas on the upper level rather than in classrooms, but it’s almost impossible to stop it getting into the walls.
“I’ve been to the school a couple of times. It’s a fabulous school but there are problems that we need to get sorted quickly.”
Interim measures include sturdy webbing material being hung underneath the glazed areas to ensure there is no danger of glass falling on to classrooms.
“We will need to create a temporary campus,” Mr Chapman said.
“There is no one school big enough to take all the pupils from Methilhill and at this stage we would want to keep the school together rather than send the children to different schools.
“We’ll need to virtually build a temporary campus as close to the school as we can while remedial works take place.”
Cardenden Primary was forced to close in 2008 following structural concerns, with pupils decanted to Denend Primary for almost two years while repairs were carried out. Children, parents and staff were praised for their spirit of co-operation and Mr Chapman hopes a similar attitude will prevail in Methilhill.
“Every effort was made to make the children’s education as normal as it could possibly be. That’s our main aim and to ensure the parent body is kept informed on everything we do and is included in the process.”
Levenmouth Chief Inspector Graeme Kinmond said six separate acts of vandalism were carried out on the school in October, all of which were detected and saw three local youths charged.
“Over the past year there have been three incidents where either zinc or lead flashing have been stolen,” he said.
“At one of these incidents two local juveniles were traced and charged. The area remains a focus for police patrols. Work by the community safety officer, through the Levenmouth Area Community Safety Group, has seen the access gates closed and locked at night and improvement to the perimeter security.
“This modern school is a fantastic asset for the communities of Methilhill and beyond so I would like to appeal to the same community to report any suspicious activity in the area of the school, including vehicles and people. Please phone the police on 0845 600 5702 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 if you can assist the police in putting a stop to thefts and damage.
“Where an incident is happening at the time, please use the 999 system.”