Students at Lockport Township High School District 205’s Central Campus were dismissed from school Thursday after it was discovered a piece of ceiling plaster fell in a third-floor classroom.
Superintendent Robert McBride said nobody was injured. He told the Daily Southtown the ceiling collapsed sometime overnight and was discovered Thursday morning by a math teacher who saw debris outside the door of classroom 310.
McBride said students were dismissed at about 8:45 a.m. and staff members left the building around 9 a.m.
The building is 114 years old, McBride said, and parts of the building were built in 1909 and 1928 when plaster nailed into wood framing was the construction method. An initial investigation found the plaster loosened from the wood frame amid weather changes and moisture, he said.
In a statement, McBride said district officials are working with Homer Township and Lockport Township fire departments, the Lockport building inspector, Lockport police and the regional office of education to determine when the building can reopen.
“We will not do so until we are assured that every space is safe for students and staff,” the statement reads. “As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority.”
Engineers and representatives from DLA Architects, the district’s architectural firm, were also on-site Thursday and are examining each classroom to make sure other pieces of plaster aren’t loosening from the wood frame, McBride said. The inspection will take three to four days, he said.
Holly Parypinski Ris, whose son is a freshman, said he was texting her all morning with updates on what was happening. She said she missed a call from him at 8:07 a.m. He texted her at 8:28 a.m. saying he didn’t feel safe and by 8:41 a.m. he texted a photo of students leaving and telling her school was dismissed.
When the district sent an email to parents at 8:22 a.m., she said it read that a piece of plaster fell and that no one was injured. By 8:49 a.m. the district sent an email to parents that school was canceled.
Parypinski Ris said between the messages from her son and the district’s emails she felt scared and then angry because the messaging was conflicting. She realized how serious the matter was when she saw photos on social media of the damage.
“It came off as something not to be panicked about,” Parypinski Ris said. “When they say plaster, you think it’s a little bit.”
Central students will have an e-learning day Friday, McBride said, and district officials will announce Friday the plan for lessons next week.
The district has been reviewing options for renovating Central Campus, which opened in November 1909 and is the district’s freshman campus.
Every few years, the building becomes the center of community debate on whether to build a school or renovate the building. Annually, the district spends between $500,000 to $1 million on upkeep for central campus, McBride has said.
The school board had already scheduled a special meeting Thursday night during to discuss a scaled back, phased renovation of the campus as directed by the board at an Oct. 2 committee meeting.
Board members directed district officials to scale back proposed renovations to cost between $70 million and $85 million and to calculate the financial projections of the project for the average taxpayer, according to a board document attached to the Nov. 2 agenda.
McBride called it “ironic” that the roof collapsed ahead of the board’s special meeting.
“With a 114-year-old building, it’s important for the community to know that we can’t operate the building without renovation,” McBride said.