Teachers and volunteers spent the weekend preparing temporary classrooms at Capuano Early Childhood Center, Edgerly School, and East Somerville Community School.

By Jim Clark

Last week’s partial collapse of the roof over a girls bathroom at the Brown School sent chills through the hearts and minds of parents whose children narrowly missed being seriously injured, due to the lateness of the hour when the event occurred. The collapse took place after hours and nobody was in the building at that time.

The school was immediately shut down for the remainder of the week as inspection crews assessed the damage.

An informational meeting was held two days later, on Thursday, to bring parents up to date on what was discovered by the inspection crews and what steps would be taken to get students back to school.

Work crews reportedly determined that the portion of the roof that had collapsed had been gradually eroding from water seepage over an extended period of time. Accumulations of snow had apparently accelerated the deterioration of the structure’s wood and masonry components, leading to the partial collapse of the roof.

Officials indicated that the internal damage could not have been foreseen without a more thorough inspection process having taken place, which was problematic due to the recent weather conditions.

Mayor Curtatone assured parents that the roof would be repaired and that the school will be reopened.

It was determined that students would be diverted to other schools while the repairs were being made. Allowing the school to remain open throughout the renovation period, which is expected to last several weeks, was deemed to be unsafe for the students and teachers, and impractical for the work crews.

Plans were then put into place to have the Brown School students diverted to other area schools that would set up temporary classroom spaces to accommodate them.

On Monday of this week, Kindergarten children were welcomed at Capuano Early Childhood Center, while students in grades 1-5 were sent to Edgerly School, and 6th graders went to East Somerville Community School.

Busing schedules were organized and the temporary classrooms were set up at the participating assisting schools.

While the routing of Brown School students to their new temporary classrooms served as something of a work in progress early this week, parents, students, teachers, and everyone involved in the process of normalizing the children’s school day routines found the new routine easier to negotiate as each day unfolded. Most agreed that the transition to the temporary classrooms went relatively well and that the students’ educational needs are being well served.

Updates and further information can be found online at the Brown School website: http://www.somerville.k12.ma.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=20337.