Parents tour two facilities for displaced TA Brown students

Last Friday, T.A. Brown Elementary School in Austin was forced to close indefinitely because of safety concerns. Two other facilities have opened their doors to the displaced students and teachers.

Monday, parents got a tour of Reilly Elementary, which is where former T.A. Brown pre-k and kindergartners will be. Parents of first through fifth graders got a tour of the Allan facility in East Austin, which was a former school turned event and meeting facility.

Last Friday, officials closed T.A. Brown Elementary because of safety concerns with the flooring. Superintendent Paul Cruz says engineers went into a crawl space and found flooring with cracks in the foundation of the structure. Officials say this is a dangerous situation and they are glad they found the issue when they did. At this point, they're just working with parents and trying to move forward.

“Our teachers and staff members have been working over the weekend and today to start unpacking materials, to start working through and preparing for Wednesday. Wednesday will be the first day coming back for students, from T.A. Brown,” said Dr. Paul Cruz, superintendent.

The school was built in 1957, so we are talking about a 59 year old facility.  Officials say they would frequently hold inspections but this is the first time in a long time, they've inspected the crawl space. There no word on how long this school will be closed but they say it definitely will not be open next school year.