Stanton Elementary School, closed almost three weeks because of bat infestation, is scheduled to reopen Wednesday

Stanton Elementary in Powell County will reopen this week after being closed for almost three weeks because of a bat infestation, school officials said Monday.

“They are moving everything back into the building today,” Arliss Crowe, secretary to the district’s director of pupil personnel, told Kentucky Health News on Monday. “Students will be back in the school on Wednesday.” Schools in the county were dismissed Monday and Tuesday while crews moved furniture serving students who were moved to alternate facilities.

The state Department for Public Health closed the school Nov. 14 after bats were reported frequently entering the building, county School Supt. Mike Tate told The Clay City Times. An animal-removal company found three to five bats initially and did not see any more after they began their work, he said.

The company completed its work last week and told the school system to monitor the building for a week and if no bats are sighted it “could be safe to move back in,” Tate told the weekly newspaper.

Tate told the weekly newspaper that he met with state health officials Friday, Nov. 29, to determine what needed to happen next. “We want to be careful and not act too quickly,” he said then. “We want to get back, but we want to make sure the school is safe.” (Read more)