Jack Elementary School was a public elementary school located in the

Munjoy Hill Munjoy Hill is a neighborhood and prominent geographical feature of Portland, Maine. It is located east of downtown and south of East Deering, the neighborhood it is connected to by Tukey's Bridge. The neighborhood historically had a large Ir ...

neighborhood of

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropol ...

. Jack Elementary was Portland's largest school until the time of its closure. The school made headlines when 100% of the teachers, administrators and other employees of the school reported symptoms related to mold poisoning from

Stachybotrys chartarum ''Stachybotrys chartarum'' (, ), also known as black mold or toxic black mold, is a species of microfungus that produces its conidia in slime heads. It is sometimes found in soil and grain, but the mold is most often detected in cellulose-rich ...

. The mold can cause symptoms that are flu-like down up to pulmonary hemorrhage. The school was closed in 2001 and then later torn down as a result of the mold contamination. Students from the school were reassigned to three other schools within the city. A new school on, named

East End Community School East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

was opened in 2006. In its prime, the school was an impressive building. There were huge hallways with massive solid wood doors opening into large-size classrooms with high ceilings. The playground behind the school was built in the late 1980s by a cooperative effort involving contractors, school faculty and students, as well as members of the community who brought their own tools and donated their time. The new playground was said to be the largest and most modern playground in the city school system when it was finished. This school was originally built and known as Jack Junior High School for grade 7 and 8 students from the Munjoy Hill neighborhood, fed from Emerson School on Emerson St. and North School on Congress St (both now converted to housing).

References

* Quimby, Beth. ''Colorful construction of Portland's new school on schedule'', Portland Press Herald. August 30, 2005. Defunct schools in Portland, Maine Educational institutions disestablished in 2001 Munjoy Hill Demolished buildings and structures in Maine {{Maine-school-stub