Flat Roof of Back Section of Colonial School Collapses, Injuring Two Construction Workers During Weekend Work

Photo by Barbara Bartlett.

Classes Cancelled Monday, Children Assigned to Other Schools for Two Weeks

Colonial Elementary School will remain closed for two weeks while the construction site where two workers were injured is cleaned up and the demolition project completed. Monday’s classes were cancelled, and School District officials assigned the students to other elementary schools or the middle school and high school effective Tuesday.

Reassignments were by grade with the all sections in a grade assigned to the same location. Teachers of each grade were reassigned with the students. Music, art and special services were also part of the emergency relocation plan.

Workers were in the process of demolishing a one story back section of the school building in preparation for a new addition when the accident occurred shortly after noon on Saturday, Oct. 31. One worker was seriously injured and the other was treated and released from a hospital. The demolition work had been scheduled for the weekend when the children would not be in the school building. The playground was not accessible from the school and is being used only by construction teams and vehicles.

About 150 people attended a special meeting of the Pelham Board of Education on Monday night to discuss the accident, what will happen next in the construction project and details of the student reassignments. Most of the audience were parents of students in kindergarten through grade 5 at Colonial School.

Reporting on the accident, School Board President John Brice said the roof slab of the library on the back of the school was being cut from where it meets the gym when the roof collapsed and also pulled the rear wall on to the collapsed roof. The roof fell on what was the floor of the library and the ceiling of the lower level art room.

He said the “existing building probably was not compromised structurally” but engineers and other professionals will make the final determination over the next several days. He noted that an asbestos removal project had been completed before the demolition began.

The Board of Education is hiring a forensic engineer who specializes in building collapses to study what happened and to make judgments on the stability of the building. Another contractor is also being hired to design a plan to shore up the roof slab over the art room and install it so that the debris pile can be removed and the site cleaned up.

A further step will be to determine what the State Education Department will require before the building can be declared safe and can be reoccupied.

Mr. Brice said he hopes that all of this can be completed within “two weeks or so,” but noted weather and other unknowns could affect the timetable.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dennis Lauro and Colonial Principal Dr. Janet Rotstein emphasized that closing the school and moving the children to other schools was done with the goal of providing good instruction in a safe environment for the 316 Colonial students. They noted that the other schools are being affected by the emergency relocation of the Colonial students and thanked all administrators, staff, students and parents for their flexibility in meeting the emergency. If relocation for more than two weeks is needed, the current plan could be modified. Also, Dr. Lauro said he is checking on possible sites, even out of Pelham, for all the Colonial students.

Here are some of the questions and answers from the meeting:

Q. Will recertifcation for occupancy of the building include testing for environmental factors, i.e. dust, air, etc.

A. The area for the demolition work had been sealed from the interior and none of that was compromised by the accident. Each room has a filter and a warning light if air quality is compromised and to date none of the filters had to be changed. However, it was agreed that testing of air quality would take place before the building is reoccupied.

Q. Was there a miscalculation in planning or execution of the demolition?

A. Savin Engineers, the School District’s construction manager for the Colonial poroject, has a supervisor on site every day there is construction and had someone there on the day of the accident. Plans for the demolition work had been discussed with the contractor in advance. The construction manager, however, is not responsible for what is called the “means and methods” of the work, which is up to the contractor. School Board President Brice said on the issue of supervision, “if there are lessons to be learned, we will apply them.”

Q. How will parents be kept informed about the project, the forensic engineer’s report, and other related matters?

A. A construction update meeting for Colonial parents already had been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9 and that will take place. Other meetings will be scheduled as reports become available.

Q. What if the building cannot be reoccupied in two weeks?

A. The emergency plan could be extended or revised.

Q. Did the School District have confidence in the contractor, Wager Construction?

A. Yes. The company did work in PMHS during the summer and had previous experience in demolition work.

Q. Who will bear the financial burden of this accident, including costs of relocation of students and teachers?

A. The contractor is insured and bonded, the School District is insured and has reserves. The concern now is the children’s education and safety; who pays will be resolved in the future.

Q. What if a child is having nightmares about the accident or does not want to go back to the school building?

A. School Psychologists are available for individual and group meetings.

Q.. Had school been in session, would any children or faculty been in harm’s way?

A. No. All adjacent areas were closed off and this work had been scheduled for the weekend so no one would be in the building.

Q. If the school was not reopened, would the construction project be completed faster?

A. Not for the new addition. That work is to be done totally outside and could not be accelerated.

Here are highlights of the emergency plan for reassigning Colonial School students to other schools because of the construction accident at Colonial on Oct. 31:

Effective Nov. 3 until Nov. 13, classes will be assigned as follows, keeping the same grade levels together in one building:

• Grade K (3 classes) Prospect Hill (Library) 738-6690
• Grade 1 (3 classes) Siwanoy - 1A Music, 1C Resource Room, 1H Library - 738-7650
• Grade 2 (2 classes) Prospect Hill (Auditorium) 738-6690
• Grade 3 (3 classes) Hutchinson - 3D Library, 3K Art (portable), 3L Music (portable) 738-3640
• Grade 4 (2 classes) Pelham Memorial High School (4M BEPT Center, 4W Room 134) 738-8110
• Grade 5 (2 classes) Pelham Middle School (5V Room 179, 5G Room 181) 738-8190

Colonial specials teachers (art, music) will be assigned to each building in order to cover Colonial classes. Special services such as Speech and Language, Resource Room, Occupational Therapy, Reading and the School Psychologist will adjust their programs to accommodate their students.

New: Colonial Principal Dr. Janet Rothstein will be visiting all the schools during the day and reacheable through the school secretary at the Hutchinson School (738-3640). If a child is going to be absent, call Mrs. Mangiello at Hutchinson School with that information.The school nurse will be traveling to the schools where the students have been reassigned.

The Colonial teachers will be at the same building where there classes have been reassigned and each day will meet their students and wait until all are dismissed.

Parents are encouraged to have the children stay at their assigned schools all day and bring a bag lunch and snack. Only peanut/nut free lunches and snacks are requested.

All after school programs, except the Pelham Children’s Center, will be canceled during this time period. The Pelham’s Children’s Center will be picking up their students at the various schools throughout the district.

Note: The full emergency plan is available on www. pelhamweekly.com and the school web site (www.pelhamschools.org).

This is part of the November 6, 2009 online edition of The Pelham Weekly.

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