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SACO — Young Elementary School students will not have school today because of an odor that forced fire and rescue workers to evacuate the building and take four employees to the hospital on Tuesday.

Teachers are expected to report to work, but all parent-teacher conferences that were scheduled today are canceled

The Saco Fire Department was called at 11:56 a.m. and the school was evacuated as a safety precaution, said Chief Alden Murphy.

Saco Fire Rescue brought four employees who felt ill to Southern Maine Regional Medical Center for evaluation, he said.

The 300 kindergarten, first- and second-grade students were bused to Saco Sport and Fitness, a short distance away on North Street. Club members worked out on exercise machines on a landing while Principal Peter Harrison addressed students on a basketball court below

Students then resumed classes in various parts of the club. Children followed their normal routines for getting home, unless parents decided to pick up their children at the fitness club.

Parent-teacher conferences scheduled for Tuesday night were canceled.

An independent contractor was called in to test air quality in the school, in an attempt to determine why employees were sick, said Elaine Tomaszewski, superintendent of the Saco-Dayton school district.

Air quality tests done last week did not indicate any problems, she said.

The school at North and Tasker streets had air quality problems in the past.

Students in the school's north wing were moved to the Fairfield School in May of 1999 after several parents complained that their children had allergy-like health problems.

The city has spent more than $250,000 over the past eight years to improve air quality in the north wing of the school.

In 1999, following students' and teachers' health complaints, the city made repairs and renovations to eliminate a mold and carbon dioxide problem.

Before those repairs, the city fixed the school's heating and ventilation system in an effort to address air quality concerns in the school's north wing.