OTISFIELD – School officials are assuring the public that the Otisfield Community School is safe to be in, but they will continue to monitor it for moisture.

“Based on the (latest) test, it’s a safe building to be in,” Superintendent Rick Colpitts told the Board of Directors this week. Test results from a recent moisture test are expected to be back next week, he said.

Officials say there has been no evidence of mold.

The school will undergo periodic monitoring of the moisture, Colpitts said.

An investigation earlier this year determined that water was getting into the bottom of a wall and officials suspected that flower and vegetables gardens that surround the school may have been a contributing factor to the problem.

“At the end of the school year, all the garden beds were pulled out,” said Barbara Maguire, who along with Principal Linda Park and Lorette Ayotte began the garden project five years ago.

Maguire said they and the Garden Club members tried to save as many plants as they could.

“The Garden Club kids dug up as many as we could and put them on the hill,” said Maguire, referring to a large parcel of land in front of the school that was cleared and dedicated for scores of new vegetable beds that became a community-school project.

ldixon@sunjournal.com