
A sign outside the new Francis Howell North High School in St. Peters reads “Progress as promised” on Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
ST. PETERS — Summer classes and camps at Francis Howell North have moved to another campus as a noxious odor at the school continues to stump contractors.
Programs have moved to Francis Howell Central so construction workers and maintenance crews can have “uninterrupted access” to identify the source of the smell emanating inside of Francis Howell North, said Jennifer Jolls, a district spokesperson.
A strong but intermittent odor has plagued the newly rebuilt Francis Howell North since it opened at the beginning of last school year.
Students and teachers said they’ve been hit with strong wafts of rotten egg or sewage smells in various parts of the building, mostly on the western side.
The odor has been the source of both literal and figurative headaches.
Francine Hill, president of the district’s teachers union, said last month that some teachers have gotten sick. One parent said they had to do remote learning with their child at home because the smell complicated their child’s medical issues and caused headaches.
People are also reading…
And finding and eliminating the odor’s source has also been a monthslong pain for the district.
The school’s grease interceptor was cleared out. Sewer mains were inspected with cameras. Contractors filled the school’s plumbing system with smoke to find any leaks or blockages. Air quality monitoring devices placed in five locations detected no harmful gases or compounds, district officials said.
The decision to move summer programming came after concluded air intakes on the school’s roof may suck up foul smells from sewer vents when the wind blows in a certain direction.
In late April, nearly all of the school’s 25 rooftop vents were extended 5 feet higher to prevent sewer odors from entering the HVAC system.
The move seemed to work, district officials said last month, with the odor observed far less frequently.
But it hasn’t gone away completely.
“We hope the toxic gas issue at Francis Howell North will be resolved before the start of next year,” Hill, the teachers union president, told the district’s school board at a meeting June 6.
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of June 1, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.