MARBLEHEAD — When many parents look at the 112-year-old Gerry School, they see a beautiful antique brick building with cozy classrooms and murals lovingly painted on the walls. They share generations of memories, and catch up on the latest news while their children frolic in the schoolyard on Elm Street.

It’s the reason Beth Gesuero recently moved here with her family from Boston. It’s a community, an old-time neighborhood where parents walk their children to school and were greeted by the crossing guards who know their names.

Many want to renovate the school, which according to a “Save the Gerry School’’ Facebook page and a GoFundMe site is the “beating heart’’ of Marblehead’s Historic District.

Others, including the school administration, see the school’s deteriorating heating, electrical, roofing, and ventilation systems as beyond repair. They see faulty windows, lighting, and flooring; crowded, undersized classrooms; the lack of a cafeteria; limited gym and library space; and no provisions for those with disabilities.

The Gerry, the oldest of the town’s nine school buildings, has been closed to its 160 kindergartners and first-graders since Feb. 7, after a water leak in the attic exposed other problems in the building.

When the asbestos-covered steam pipe leak was discovered on Jan. 25 — causing water to drip from the ceiling in several locations and some plaster to fall into hallways and upstairs classrooms — the school administration decided to close the second floor and send first-graders to the Coffin school a half-mile away.

Further concerns about the boiler and potential mold resulted in closing the Gerry entirely and moving kindergartners to the Lower Bell school, 1.6 miles from the Gerry.

On Feb. 12, the School Committee voted to spend $4,170 to repair the steam pipe and another $14,900 to pay for costs incurred in moving students to the other schools.

Superintendent Maryann Perry has said the Gerry will be closed for the remainder of the school year.

Many worry that it will never reopen.

Kenneth Lord, executive director of technology and operations for the school system, said that while the Gerry School Building Committee is still in the first year of a two-year feasibility study, none of the committee’s options include renovations. Because of a projected 10 percent enrollment drop, to be eligible for a 32 percent reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority the Gerry would have to combine with either the Bell or with both the Bell and Coffin schools to reach qualifying enrollment thresholds, Lord said.

But Benjamin Crowninshield is passionate about wanting the town to make the necessary repairs and keep the Gerry open.

“There’s no building that can’t be saved,’’ he said. “Even with state reimbursement [if a new school is built], we will spend more money than getting it repaired.’’

Crowninshield said he missed the deadline to have the option of renovating the Gerry placed on the warrant for the May 7 annual Town Meeting.

“If we can get enough signatures, we can have a Special Town Meeting and residents can vote on it separately,’’ he said. “If the [Special Town Meeting] decides it wants to save it as a school, it would go to a full town vote.’’

In 2006, the Massachusetts School Building Authority identified the Gerry as a Category 4 — the lowest possible score — indicating the need for major repairs or replacement.

Twelve years later, it has the same ranking. The school administration states that the issues, ranging from a “dying boiler to a leaking roof,’’ can’t be fixed without a “significant investment.’’

But some think spending the money would be worth it.

Calling the Gerry school a “fabulous piece of architecture,’’ Marblehead author and historian Robert Booth said it was “built to last.’’ He lamented that more attention has not been given to buildings in the town’s Historic District.

“While the Gerry was being neglected, the Glover, which arguably could have been repurposed,’’ was instead demolished and a new school built that opened in 2014.

“Tradition, and the importance of tradition, used to be a big deal in Marblehead,’’ Booth said. “There were certain expectations. One was that you don’t throw it away.’’

Bette Keva can be reached at bettewk@gmail.com.