Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

It’s not just any old door, like the kind that open up to a room. It’s actually a very large door that goes completely across a big room. It serves as a partition, and at Spencer Elementary in Brighton it separates the cafeteria from the gym.

This year, the electrical mechanism on the door hadn’t been operable, and two adults had to open and close the exceptionally heavy door by hand. But now it’s fixed. Brighton Board of Education Trustee John Conely informed the board at Monday night’s meeting that he had repaired the door, assisted by a few district maintenance people.

The board had previously expressed a willingness to spend the $125,000 it would take to replace the door with a new one, with the money taken out of the general fund. But Conely said that was unnecessary. He told the board at a previous meeting that the door was likely fixable and he’d like to try his hand at it.

“We were contemplating authorizing up to a full replcement of the door,” said Board Trustee Andy Storm, who praised Conely for his efforts. He said the company charged with the responsibility of maintaining the door should be taken to task for saying it was unrepairable. “The company who service our door was taking complete advantage of our district,” Storm told board members.

Last week, school maintenance people removed the door and transported it to his automobile sales and rental business on Grand River in Genoa Twp. Conely said he spent no more than two hours on it before repairing it. School maintenance people then picked it up and took it back to school. After a couple of tests Monday to make sure it was working, the door was pronounced repaired.

“It was a very easy fix,” Conely told WHMI News, adding, “If it should fail again, there are parts available.” He said the door, installed in the early 90’s, was a ”high-quality door" and superior to anything on the market today.

Conely told the board he would be happy if the money saved from not having to replace the door could be used for the STEAM program at The Bridge Alternative High School. “That way, we can take the savings and invest them back in the classroom, he said.