The Sky is Falling!
POTTSTOWN, PA – As reported today on WFMZ-TV and The Mercury’s website, students at Rupert Elementary were evacuated this morning after part of a second floor ceiling collapsed. As the collapsed occurring during non-school hours, no children were hurt (thank goodness!).
You can watch the WFMZ video here:
Part Of Ceiling Collapses; Students Moved
The online edition of The Mercury also has some video and a write-up:
Students to return to Rupert Tuesday
And, of course, all the latest information on the event can be found on the Pottstown School District website.
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t share with our readers some highlights from the devilicious March 10 public school board Neighborhood Schools Committee meeting:
“Former board member Robert Morgan said during his time on the board Rupert was always described as a few steps away from falling down.”
“Doug Rohrbaugh, a principal in the Crabtree Rohrbaugh architecture firm, said from his examination, Rupert is structurally sound.”
The full Mercury article which detailed the March 10 meeting can be found here.
There’s also this February 22 letter to the editor submitted by former school board member Barry Haring:
And who remembers this little advertising chestnut that appeared on The Mercury’s op-ed page in January this year:
Well-built schools can last indefinitely
Need we say more?
I’m not actually certain a ‘collapse’ is the best way to describe it?!?
Some plaster fell onto drop ceiling tiles and disloged them from the suspended frame. From what I understand 3 ceiling tiles fell and the ‘chunk’ of plaster debris wasn’t much bigger than an extra large pancake (mmmm…panckaes!!).
My question/concern is if it can’t be determined why plaster fell what’s to say more won’t and when? Next time there could be an injury or worse, depending on where and the time of day.
We can all be proud of the PSD teams and staff that were in charge! They did a marvelous job and deserve thanks – drop them a line!
So…what to do now? Is Rupert really worth saving? As a building – yes, in my opinion BUT not at taxpayer expense. I still maintain a private group should ‘restore it to its former glory’!
BTW…IF we actually had staff reductions (indulge me a minute) roughly by 100 people across 7 buildings an average loss of 14.3 people/positions per building…there would’ve been less ‘hands’ to make yesterdays efforts work at Rupert. Anyone think that Mr. Moyer would answer positively to the question, “Could you have handled yesterday’s crisis as successfully with 14 fewer staffers?”
I wonder how Mr. Hylton would answer that, too? With fewer staffers there is less flexibility to handle crisis intervention at any level. I’d love to know your thoughts about that, sir. Was that factored into your calculations along with academic achievement? I think not. Convince me that you really understand what educaation is about – I’m not getting the impression that you have the vaguest clue!
That sky is fixed and a ‘normal’ day is underway – yeah!!
My children went to school at Rupert MANY moons ago. The building was substandard and in dire need of rennovation even then! Now, I believe the only good thing that could be done with Rupert School is to tear it down. It IS TRULY an accident waiting to happen. Maybe the next incident will cause serious injury, God forbid! Mr Hylton has no grasp of or any interest in the well-being of the children who attend that school, but only in the building itself. Cold brick rather than warm & healthy children is hardly a worthy – or desirable – trade-off.
I hear you loud and clear, SR!!
I keep going back to some conversations I’ve had w/ other parents about that very thing, too! WHY have the buildings not been proactively maintained? We have an excellent maintentance staff now but where was the money and staff for the last 80 years to keep the building well-kept? (BTW…that is not an attack, merely an honest question)
This also begs the question spend a little here and there and big bills can potentially be staved off. Now, this doesn’t, of course, account for changing needs and times OR habits of residents and taxpayers that bring about change from the system as it was originally established – ergo, evaluate what we have and see if it is waht we want and might need in the future to make the best expenditures we can afford and a majority agrees on. This is why it is critical, I believe, at this juncture to move hand in hand with the Borough and major community stakeholders. There has never been a better time to change the tune this town marches to.
Also, I’d like to ask anyone if they think the school emblem should get an overhaul to reflect what the SD is all about…I think the ‘Industry’ portion should be replaced with something else to be reflective of a new day/direction. Is it just me or does anyone else see this??? It would make a great Senior project for an Art student (or Art Major-to-be?). Just a thought!
How about dropping the industry symbol and adding the Code Blue symbol or an image of someones pet Advertorial?
Kind of makes you wonder about the whole Schmidlapp dog and pony show. Doesn’t it? That “expert” just evaluated the building a couple of weeks ago and said it had no structural issues… just needed new (historically accurate) windows and (geothermal) heating system.
I’m not deeply concerned that the building is going to come crashing down around our kids this year or next. But other stuff is falling off that building, too. Bricks have fallen off the exterior, if I’m not mistaken. I remember the old Borough Hall had a problem with chunks of masonry falling off, too. That made it impractical/unadvisable/financially unacceptable to stay in that building. Therefore, Council built a new building that works better and has had a positive economic impact on the neighborhood in which it was built. (There goes that public-private partnership success thing again!)
Monkeybiz… I agree with you that this particular incident might not be described as a “disaster of epic proportions” but that it may be indicative of underlying problems. What scares me most of all is that a substantial contingent of the school board has already adopted the position that there is nothing wrong with Rupert’s structure. So how can we expect to get honest results from any survey or analysis they are responsible for conducting? It seems the outcome is known before the survey begins.
I am not sure I agree with your contention that this is a result of shoddy maintenance. I have to say that, in general, I think our district has had superb maintenance standards. I am just speculating here…. but that masonry has been exposed to an awful lot over the decades. Bethlehem Steel… oxidental… and other industries, not to mention the deteriorative effects of normal wind, rain, sun. Maybe Rupert is made of the highest grade brick and concrete. I don’t know. But there are buildings made of softer materials that are just plain difficult to keep in tip-top condition.
I’m not saying it was/has been shody maintenance…just wondering (I guess) what the focus of maintenance has been over the years and if any got delayed, perhaps, to free up money for other things. Back to the whole prioritizing of where to spend the money on a yearly basis. I think some people have raised questions to me that made me think what (other than age) have been the cause of the building’s recent ailments.
I agree, a preconceived notion that there is nothing wrong with Rupert is damaging to any fact-finding about the current state of the building and interesting you bring the Schmidlapp evaluation up. ‘Structurally sound’ is really subjective depending upon how close a look is taken – ONE DAY, hmmm. I am finding that a more extensive evaluation would need to be made prior to spending MILLIONS of dollars; good that the brakes have been engaged on this whole thing! How much of the building could’ve ‘fallen’ with extensive on-site drilling and window work?
Speaking of Schmidlapp…was he ever paid? With what money? Speaking of money, was has happened to the $10,000.00 donation from Mr. Hylton? I hope it went to pay a bill of some kind – perhaps, Mr. Rorhbaugh for his time and cost analysis?
I’m just thankful a tragedy didn’t occur!!