The Lincoln County School Board declared an emergency Mondaynight for removing debris from the West Lincoln Attendance Centercampus.

The “old Green Building,” the original West Lincoln schoolbuilding, caught fire and was severely damaged Thursday. Althoughit was to be demolished in the near future, the building stillhoused a few classrooms.

Students attending class in the Green Building will have tobecome mobile, Superintendent Terry Brister said. He said they willbe using classrooms in other buildings during a teacher’s offperiod, which means they will be in one classroom during one periodand another the next.

The emergency declaration allows the board to circumvent the bidprocess, which often takes a few months, and move immediately onthe debris removal, Brister said.

However, the board cannot remove the debris until insuranceadjusters have completed their work.

“(The adjuster) said it would be a few days,” Brister said. “Assoon as they give me the go ahead, I’ll get it moved. We need tomove it fast.”

The superintendent said he wanted to move quickly on the debrisremoval because he was concerned about the potential for injuriesinherent to any burned and abandoned structure.

The board hopes to secure bids low enough to include theconstruction of a temporary small building to replace the missingclassrooms until a more permanent solution can be found.

The Green Building was constructed in 1937 with twothree-classroom wings as the original West Lincoln School andserved students in grades one through 12. The building wasgradually added on to over the years, with a science building andauditorium. It was still used as a study hall and for storage ofsome athletic equipment and old books, Brister said.