RAPID CITY, S.D. (KELO) — Rodents, mold and seven classrooms without heat; those are just some of the issues at a Rapid City Elementary School. Canyon Lake Elementary School is on the west side of the city and remains open. But the school board will soon decide whether it’s time for the school to close for good.

The Canyon Lake Elementary School was built in 1949. Now, 70 years later, the building has some major issues.

“It’s very deceiving to drive by that building because when you drive by it, it looks like a school that is in session. But behind it is a lot of long-standing issues,” Interim Superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools Nicole Swigart said.

Roughly 380 students attend Canyon Lake Elementary. Right now, those students are only using the newer addition to the school.

“The people providing education have been phenomenal; it is the structure that does not meet our standards moving forward and there are things you just cannot do with a structure. You can’t make halls wider. You cannot make classrooms bigger. Those take something else,” Swigart said.

“Parents went to these schools, whole families went to the same schools, so it is emotional to have to close a school. With that being said, we have to do what’s best for our students,” Bobbi Schaefbauer, Community Relations Manager, said.

The School Board will vote on whether to close the elementary school at next week’s board meeting. Swigart says it’s been up for discussion for a while now.

“I vow that the district will, moving forward, attempt to do a much better job at communicating but there has to be a willingness with the community meeting part way and realizing that we have to do something about these issues,” Swigart said.

If the decision passes, students and staff would still finish out the rest of the school year at Canyon Lake Elementary.

The Rapid City Interim Superintendent says there is space at surrounding schools to send the students who currently go to Canyon Lake Elementary. Teachers at the school would be offered other teaching positions in the district.