Dallas

New Schools Open in West After 2013 Fertilizer Blast

Students and adults have marched to a new school complex in a Central Texas town where a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion killed 15 people.

Classes began Wednesday at the combination West High School and Middle School, following a march from the elementary campus left standing after the blast.

Superintendent David Truitt says the dedication ceremonies included 15 seconds of silence, to remember those who died.

The $52 million campus offers the first time that students are not in portable buildings or elsewhere since the blast in West, 75 miles south of Dallas. Federal investigators in May announced the fire that caused the explosion was intentionally set.

The complex for the West Independent School District, with more than 1,300 students, was paid for with insurance money, plus state and federal funds.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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