Mesa Elementary students will enjoy a three-day reprieve from their back-to-school blues while Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 employees perform some asbestos-abatement work at the school.

During the last week in July, representatives from the Colorado department of Health Air Quality Division visited Cortez to review Re-1’s compliance with the AHERA rules governing asbestos in schools.

The health-department representatives determined that all of the district’s paperwork and building were in compliance with state and EPA rules.

However, they did require that the majority of Mesa’s ceiling tile — approximately 30,000 square feet — be removed within a 12-month period.

In order to ensure the most prudent and timely response to these conditions, rather than waiting until next summer, the Re-1 school board instructed that the tile be removed as soon as possible without delaying the school’s first day of class beyond Sept. 18.

The delay may only last until Sept. 5.