Many Maritime students headed back to school on Tuesday, but some Saint John students were given an extra day off after learning their school wouldn’t be reopening this year.

Last month, students, parents and staff were told St. Patrick’s School would be closing because of structural damage due to the building’s age.

Supt. Zoey Watson says the past four weeks have been a scramble to find out where the 170 students would be placed.

“When we were looking at space for students we needed 10 classrooms,” says Watson.

Children from kindergarten to Grade 2 were sent to one school, while grades three to five were sent to another, but parents say there has been a lack of communication.

“It’s been chaos since, not knowing where they were going until just a couple weeks ago, and now it’s all up in the air of they’re going to be segregated from the other children and hearing on Facebook from different places the parents aren’t welcoming,” says grandparent Denise Vautour.

Watson says the school board decided to give the students and staff another day off to deal with the changes.

“It certainly took a long time to unpack and set up,” she says. “We were moderating through last week and made the decision on Wednesday that, really, teachers and staff needed a little bit more time to set up.”

The 90-year-old school is owned by the Assumption Church Parish. The district says the church is currently doing an investigation to see if renovations can be done.

“I know the church was looking for information on the extent of the repairs that would need to happen to St. Pat’s School, but I haven’t heard anything further on that,” says Watson.

Margaret Reid used to work in the school cafeteria and says she isn’t surprised by the state of the school. She also says the issues shouldn’t have been ignored as long as they were.

“I don’t think it ever should have got to the state it’s gotten to and then puff, within a month is closed, supposedly for a year, but as I said, we’re not living in no bubble,” says Reid. “We know it’s not going to be for a year. We’re not naïve.”

Watson says they are focusing on the current school year for now, but many parents say they would like a firm answer on the school’s future sooner, rather than later.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar