CLEARFIELD – On Thursday Clearfield Area School District officials held a press conference to discuss the situation at the Girard-Goshen Elementary School.
Interim Superintendent Richard Frantz explained that due to problems with the roof, students, faculty and support staff would be moved to Clearfield Elementary School until the problems at Girard-Goshen are fixed.
“I want to stress, this is a temporary move, not a closure,” said Frantz.
Frantz said that while there has been some knowledge of the school’s roof leaking, it only recently became apparent that the problem was much larger. He said that initially the problem was thought to be with the shingles. After an examination, that was discovered not to be the case. Frantz said a structural assessment was done, and the report came in last week.
According to Frantz, the report questioned the ability of the roof to hold a snow load typical of this area. The roof can hold 30 pounds per square inch. Frantz said the roof should hold 50 pounds per square inch. Neither Frantz nor school board President Dave Glass knew if that was how the roof was designed (30 pounds/square inch) or if it was originally designed at the 50 pounds/square inch and something happened along the line to change the number.
Frantz said that one solution examined was sending maintenance workers up to the roof to shovel snow. He noted that this was not really feasible and posed safety hazards to the workers. He stated that it ultimately came down to the safety of the nearly 70 students. He said that if they kept the students in the building and something bad happened, the problem would only be worse.
Frantz is recommending that the district hire a firm to complete a rigorous structural analysis of roof trusses. He stated that a request for proposals is being prepared, and that a proposed project cost is unknown.
Glass said that in all his time on the board, Monday was the first time he had heard anything regarding the structural integrity of the roof.
“Monday was a real bombshell to the board,” added Glass.
“We haven’t voted officially voted on it, but the board fully supports this move,” said Glass. It was noted that this topic will be on Monday’s school meeting agenda.
Frantz said he knew that people would be angry and upset, especially with the recent schools study that was completed. The study stated that Girard-Goshen Elementary was in very good condition. What the study, and the administration were unaware of, was how bad the roof actually was.
Both Glass and Frantz acknowledged that it was an unfortunate coincidence that this issue came up at the same time the board is beginning to mull the building’s future. Glass Frantz reiterated that the two issues are separate.
Added Frantz, “(People) are going to think this is a set-up. It’s not a set-up.”
Early in the press conference, said that they anticipated the situation bring about significant legal action. When asked if the district specifically intended to seek legal action against whoever was responsible for the roofing problem, Glass and Frantz stated that they probably should not discuss it. They indicated that the process was not that far along, though they did acknowledge that before the school was initially opened in 2002, the project went through many hands; the architect, engineers, installers and inspectors.
Glass said that if it is determined that someone is responsible for the situation, the board will want that person to be held accountable.
Frantz said that once it was determined that temporarily closing the school was the best course of action, teachers and faculty were met with, and then a meeting with the students’ parents was held Wednesday afternoon. Frantz and Glass apologized for neither themselves nor the rest of the board being able to attend, but stated that they were in a pre-planned meeting with a superintendent candidate.
Frantz said that the students will have the same or similar space at CES compared to what they had at Girard-Goshen. He said a transportation plan is being worked on and that they are trying to keep down the transportation times. Frantz noted that due to the move, transportation costs will increase, but that some funds will be reimbursed.
He stated that the elementary school principals are also working on plan to help make the transition easier for the students. A day has been planned in which students will be taken on a tour of their new classrooms, get to eat lunch at CES and so forth.
Because the administration is unsure how long it may take to fix the problem(s), teachers were asked to pack enough items to get them through the year.
“No one’s losing a job,” said Frantz.
He added that to help keep costs down, the move will be done in-house.
“So many people have done so much this week,” said Frantz. “We went through every ‘what-if’ and crossed them off the list.”
While not carved in stone, Frantz said the Girard-Goshen children are expected to start class at CES on or around Nov. 15. In the meantime, additional meetings are being planned with parents and the PTO to address concerns and help ease the transition for the children.