Classical evacuated after classroom fills with smoke

LYNN – Classical High School students spent just over an hour in nearby Breed Middle School and Callahan School after a malfunctioning heating and ventilation motor started filling a classroom with smoke Monday morning.”There was smoke coming out of a vent in one of our ?C’ wing rooms,” Classical Principal Gene Constantino said.Lynn Fire District Chief Stephen Archer said a motor mounted in the classroom ceiling overheated. He said Engines 3, 7 and 9 and Ladder 2 responded to Classical shortly after 9 a.m.Archer said the malfunction did not pose a significant hazard and Constantino said the 1,600 students were escorted to Breed and Callahan – located about a block down O’Callaghan Way from Classical – to get them out of the cold.”The kids were great,” Constantino said.Students returned to Classical by 10:45 a.m.Archer said the malfunction was not related to snow accumulation on the school’s roof. Cranes removed snow from Classical’s roof on Monday and from the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute annex at 90 Commercial St.