A private downtown school closed by the city for fire code violations was ordered to remain shuttered Thursday following a Cook County court hearing at which new details about the school’s previous fire code violations were revealed.
The Fire Department closed the Loop Lab School at 300 N. Michigan Ave., Wednesday, a month after a Cook County judge ordered the school to shut down. City officials say the school did not file proper building plans to show it had a centralized alarm system connected to the city’s fire emergency network and does not have illuminated exit signs.
Elmira Mayes, the school’s principal and owner, said she paid the city’s Department of Revenue $7,100 to install an alarm box that would tie the school’s existing fire alarm to the city’s system and submitted receipts of that payment in court.
But Fire Department officials said that despite the payment, the architectural drawings submitted by the Lab School did not prove that its fire alarm system is up to code. The system cannot be tied to the city until correct plans are submitted and approved.
“You can’t just ask for a city tie box,” said Fire Lt. Donald Kampwirth, who works in the department’s fire prevention bureau. “Paying the money doesn’t mean you meet the code.”
Thursday night, Mayes said in an interview that she is considering moving the school, saying, “I’m not going to sit up her like some old bump until they figure out what we can do.”
The school, which has 186 preschoolers through 8th graders, has moved three times in its 22-year history and has a previous record of fire code violations, according to city officials. At its previous address at 11 E. Adams St., the school also did not have the required fire alarm box and was sued by the city, said Jennifer Hoyle, spokeswoman for the city’s Law Department.
Mayes admitted in court that she was told to install the fire alarm box at the school’s previous location but refused to do so. She then moved the school to the Michigan Avenue location. When the school moved, the city dropped its suit, Hoyle said.
Mayes disputed the city’s claim, however, that the fire alarm at the Michigan Avenue school is not up to code, saying the school uses its system when it conducts monthly fire drills.
“There’s nothing wrong with the building. It’s safe for the children,” Mayes said Thursday. “It was not my fault. They never told me I had to do anything else.”
But city officials counter they told Mayes, verbally and through numerous written notifications, that the new school needed a fire box, Hoyle said.
“She knew that and she opened anyway,” said Hoyle.
Private schools such as the Lab School operate with little governmental oversight. The schools are not required to register with the State Board of Education. But if they do, they are required to comply with local, state and federal health and safety regulations, including fire laws. The Lab School has been registered with the state since at least 1999, state officials said, but it was unclear why the school was able to maintain its registration while not complying with city fire codes.
The school is located on the third floor of the building, which also houses shops and the Mexican Consulate. Before the Lab School moved in, the space was leased by an adult school, which under the city’s fire protection ordinance, would not have been required to have a fire alarm box, said Molly Sullivan, spokeswoman for the Fire Department. The ordinance requires schools with more than 100 children housed in a building two stories or higher be equipped with a fire alarm box connected to the city system.
Fire officials first discovered the fire violations at the Michigan Avenue Lab School in December 2001 during a fire inspection and say they tried to give the school time to bring the building up to code.
“We were working with them as we do with a number of people,” Sullivan said. “Finally it got to the point where the city realized that they weren’t going to do anything about this.”In March 2002, the city filed a complaint in Cook County Building Court, and in February 2003, the court ordered the school to submit building plans showing it has an up-to-date fire system. When the school failed to do so, Judge Sebastian T. Patti ordered it closed in December. The school then closed for the holiday break but reopened Tuesday. Jan. 6.
The judge ordered the school to meet with city officials next week and set its next court date for Feb. 19. City officials did not know how long the school would be closed, Hoyle said. In the meantime, parents can contact the Chicago Public Schools to enroll their children, she said.
At the closed school Thursday, a city inspector turned away students and parents who were unaware of the city’s order. Fliers posted on the school’s doors explained the fire code violations, though early in the morning, one parent unsuspectingly left a 6-year-old child at the school’s entrance. The child’s mother later returned for her after being contacted by police.
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