HOUSTON -- Brick facades that are not fastened to interior structures, creating a collapse hazard, have forced the shutdown of a west Houston high school for the upcoming school year.

Stratford High School, 14555 Fern, where a $14 million renovation project had just begun, has been deemed unusable by Spring Branch Independent School District officials because of the problem.

The 2,100 Stratford students will attend classes this year at the former Westchester High School, 901 Yorkchester. That building, a few blocks east, had recently been remodeled for a charter school that occupies part of it.

Parents were informed of the decision at an emergency school board meeting Tuesday night.

The district first became alarmed in June when damage was found in the interior steel structure of a stairwell, the Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday. Other inspections found that metal ties connecting brick facade to the inner cinder block walls either had rested away or never were installed to begin with.

Outside engineers recommended closing the 30-year-old building for safety reasons. Asbestos and lead paint also are scheduled to be removed, and the district estimates the new work will add $4.5 million to $8 million to the pricetag.

Westchester opened in 1968, then Stratford was built six years later to relieve overcrowding. When enrollment declined during the oil bust, Westchester was closed in 1985 and became a community college campus before the school district retook possession in 2000.

Classes are set to begin Aug. 19.