WEST PARIS — With an elementary school empty for the last two months, whose students have split between schools in neighboring towns, the town of West Paris and Maine School Administrative District 17 are at odds over responsibility for the failures that led to Agnes Gray Elementary School being deemed unsafe by the architectural firm that inspected schools throughout the district last year.

In February, LaVallee Brensinger, the Portland engineering and design firm selected to oversee the replacement of Agnes Gray, presented a report to the district with a long list of safety concerns and code violations, advising that the school was not safe for students and staff. The school was immediately closed and an emergency plan enacted that transferred all students from grades one to six to elementary schools in Paris and Norway.

LaVallee Brensinger’s estimate to address immediate issues from a new roof and plumbing to adding egress to most classrooms and replacing emergency exits and access was $657,000, acknowledging that contractor bids to do the work could come in higher.

On March 18, SAD 17 school board directors authorized Manchester to take initial steps that will determine the scope of safety issues that cannot be easily seen – hiring an outside company to test the air quality throughout Agnes Gray. The job has been awarded to APS Environmental of Saco.

“APS Environmental, who came in with the most detailed test proposal, is in the process of testing the air quality of the building,” Manchester confirmed in a statement Monday to the Advertiser Democrat. “Once the testing is complete, and the report is issued, we will put out an RFP for the remediation.”

Manchester estimated the test results will be ready in a matter of weeks and requests for quote for the priority items in LaVallee Brensinger’s inspection will be posted by the end of April.

With the process moving forward, questions remain about how abruptly the school was closed. Maintenance and repairs at Agnes Gray have been deferred for years. Built in 1895, it has never been up to modern building codes or Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. Among several questions put to Manchester last week, the Advertiser Democrat asked what parties currently have access to Agnes Gray to check on its conditions, she replied that inspections to the roof and HVAC systems are done annually, without clarifying who conducts inspections. During previous interviews Manchester was unable to specify when SAD 17 schools are inspected and by whom.

In separate letters last month, from West Paris Fire Chief Michael Henderson and Code Enforcement Officer Kingston Brown, informed Manchester they agree with the findings presented by LaVallee Brensinger and advised that according to Maine statutes 20-A M.R.S. 3201 and 6501, municipal officials do not have authority or jurisdiction (AHJ) in public buildings operated by school districts.

In an April 1 email, Manchester responded that since the school district owns the buildings, it cannot serve as the AHJ of its own property in interactions with the state fire marshal’s office. The proper authority would rest with a third party.

This week Manchester confirmed the two organizations have yet to resolve the question of AHJ for West Paris’ elementary school.

Asked how often inspections of schools in all of Oxford Hills school district’s eight sending towns are done and how inspection findings are used for planning and budgeting, she replied that “this is an area we need to develop in collaboration with the towns.”