Moving day for W. Babylon school destroyed by fire

South Bay Elementary School is back.

Scores of faculty and volunteers descended on Our Lady of Grace Roman Catholic Church on Albin Avenue over the past few days to clean and set up temporary quarters for the West Babylon school, which burned to a shell Thursday.

When the students return to class Tuesday, principal JoAnn Scott said, the atmosphere will be as comfortable as possible.

"We're trying our best to make it business as usual," Scott said Monday.

In her new classroom, third-grade teacher Nancy Febbraro was busy taping up maps and posters of punctuation.

Having "a warm, welcoming environment" is the best way to acclimate her students to the new building, she said.

As the district scrambled to find a home for some 320 children displaced by the fire, the church offered to lease its religious education wing, originally built in the 1960s as a Catholic school but never used for that purpose.

"We had a lease finished by suppertime Saturday," said Msgr. Vin Rush, pastor of the church.

The K-5 school has set up 16 classrooms in the wing, plus a cafeteria and recreational space in the basement. Religious iconography has been removed from the areas intended for the school, district officials said.

"They've been great hosts," said Assistant Superintendent Dominick Palma, calling the church "the ideal location."

The district is paying $1,250 a day for use of the space, said district spokeswoman Jeanine Uttaro, adding that insurance money will pay some of the rent.

Plans call for classes to remain intact, with the same teachers and students in all grades. The church, about a mile from the Great East Neck Road school, will be South Bay's home for the rest of the school year.

Meanwhile, the Town of Babylon fire marshal continues to investigate the blaze, which officials have said began in a maintenance room with a boiler.

The cost of the damage to the school will be determined once the fire marshal's investigation concludes and the insurance adjuster is able to examine the building, Uttaro said.

The West Babylon community also is helping to rebuild the school. A book drive started by a South Bay graduate has garnered donations of hundreds of books and school supplies.

"It's very sad," said Rosemary Strauss, 49, as she dropped off a box of Beatrix Potter books at the West Babylon Fire Department firehouse on Arnold Avenue. "This is for the kids, the parents and the teachers."

Rush said the church was pleased with its ready-made schoolhouse. "We try to service the needs of the community," he said. "This gives us an opportunity to do that."