Students and staffers at Gorham High School were sent home for the rest of today, after a natural gas leak was found outside the building this morning.

Staff members smelled the odor of gas around 8:30 a.m. They determined the leak was outside the high school, but the vapors were coming in through the air intake system, said Superintendent Ted Sharp.

He made the call at 8:45 a.m. to evacuate the school. Some students drove home, while others were taken to the municipal building across the street, where they waited for buses to arrive.

A utility crew repaired the pipe and there are no further problems to report, Sharp said. He expects school to be on schedule as usual tomorrow.

"We're glad everybody is safe. With something like that you don't take any chances," Sharp said. "It gave us a wonderful opportunity to see how our crisis plan worked, and everything went very well."

Copyright 2008 Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.