LINCOLN — Yesterday’s reopening of the high school “went well,” school officials said, after workers spent the weekend scrambling to fix the damage done Friday afternoon when a teacher’s aide was killed in the fire caused when his car crashed into the building.

Work crews rebuilt the entrance area where the crash took place, and school officials arranged to have counselors on hand yesterday to speak with any students or staff who sought their help.

Police Chief Brian W. Sullivan said the state medical examiner’s office confirmed yesterday that the man who drove the car into the school entryway was Jay D. Paul, 34, of 1 Mendon Rd., Cumberland, a teacher’s aide at the school. He would not comment on whether the police were calling his death a suicide, but said after examining his residence they did not find a note.

Sullivan declined to provide any specifics about the case, beyond saying that police were trying to piece together Paul’s activities on Friday. He said police believe Paul left the building after school Friday, went somewhere and then returned at about 2:45 p.m., when he rammed his Ford station wagon into an entryway that connected the high school and the old middle school section.

The police hadn’t yet determined what he did during that time, Sullivan said.

In an interview on the day of the crash, a senior at the school, Alex Kay, said during the day Paul was seen taking notes for a student in a last-period pre-calculus class when he was called to the principal’s office over the public-address system. Paul appeared to get nervous after the announcement, Kay said. Around 2:30 p.m., another student saw principal Kevin McNamara and assistant principal Charlotte Tavares reprimanding Paul.

Supt. Georgia Fortunato would not comment on Paul’s tenure with the district, citing the ongoing police investigation.

Fortunato said an inspection of the building showed that while the crash and subsequent fire had caused extensive smoke damage, the building itself was sound. She praised the district’s maintenance crews who worked from Friday to Sunday to clean away the smoke damage and repair the damaged walls.

The hole in the side of the building where the car hit was closed off from the outside by a new beige wall with a wooden door. Inside, the corridor walls were covered with grey wallboard that was decorated with cardboard athletic figures on one side and nutrition posters on the other. The dropped ceiling tiles had all been replaced.

Fortunato said smoke from the fire had gotten into a nearby area where the school stored food for the cafeteria and it had to be thrown away. She said at one point, because of the soot and strong smell of fire, McNamara had thought some classrooms would have to be closed, but after the cleaning, tests showed the air was safe and the rooms were able to be used.

Some students and district employees took advantage of the offer to speak with counselors, Fortunato said, but she declined to say how many.

The district’s entire staff, repair crews, teachers and administrators, was to be commended for dealing with the unexpected tragedy, she said.

“There is no college, no workshop you can go to, that can train you for this,” she said.

Staff Writer Phil Marcelo contributed to this report

jhill@projo.com