Geneva school to reopen after suspicious fire

A Geneva school damaged in a suspicious fire over winter break will reopen by the time students return Jan. 5, officials said Friday.

Second-graders at Western Avenue Elementary School, however, will attend class in the library and art room for at least two weeks while their regular classrooms undergo repairs.

"We have a couple of classrooms we need to rebuild entirely," District 304 Superintendent Kent Mutchler said following Friday's special school board meeting to discuss the issue.

Police and firefighters responded at 1:39 a.m. Dec. 20 to a reported garbage bin fire in the school's south parking lot, 1500 Western Ave. While on the scene, authorities discovered and extinguished additional fires in three classrooms inside. No one was hurt.

On Friday, Geneva Police Cmdr. Eric Passarelli said the fire was suspicious and is being investigated by police, firefighters and the Kane County Fire Investigation Task Force as "possible arson."

The school district currently is awaiting repair estimates from its insurance company, which Mutchler said will pay for "almost all of it." Four second-grade classrooms and adjacent hallways received the brunt of the damage, but smoke spread throughout the building.

The situation was the subject of a special school board meeting Friday.

"Right now, our main goals for that Monday (Jan. 5) are to get the school up and running as normal as possible and to have as normal a school day as we can for the students and staff," said Mutchler, who called in additional social workers and counselors for the reopening. "It's a loss, and dealing with a loss can impact people in different ways."