Future uncertain for Lockport high school where ceiling collapsed

Almost as if on cue, a classroom ceiling at Lockport Township High School’s Central Campus collapsed less than 24 hours before the district’s School Board met to discuss a referendum proposal aimed at improving the condition of the 114-year-old building.

Just hours after the collapse, the Lockport Township High School District 205 board agreed during a special meeting to vote Nov. 20 on placing an $80 million referendum question in the March 2024 election.

Students at the Central Campus, which operates as the district’s freshman center, were dismissed Thursday morning after a math teacher saw debris outside the door of classroom 310 and discovered that the ceiling had collapsed in the third-floor classroom, Superintendent Robert McBride said. No students were in the classroom at the time.

Officials had scheduled the special meeting to discuss renovating the campus well before the ceiling collapse, which officials timed to 10:09 p.m. Wednesday based on security camera footage showing debris slide under the classroom door.

The building was built in 1909, though Room 310 was part of an addition built in 1928, McBride said. He noted the primary construction method then involved plaster nailed into wood framing.

Eric Sickbert, the principal architect of DLA Architects, the firm hired to work on renovation plans for Central Campus, said he was at the campus all day Thursday. He called the collapse a “catastrophic failure” of the ceiling structure.

“It’s something that doesn’t give you warning,” Sickbert said. “It’s fine and all the sudden it’s not. It’s the age of the building, it was the original plaster that was put in 114 years ago, we’re assuming. It certainly looks like it.”

Sickbert said the collapse was caused by plaster loosening from the wood frame amid weather changes and moisture. He said the wood expands and dries up in those conditions, and so nails likely began falling out of the frame.

Forensic engineers and DLA Architects officials will spend three to four days surveying the building, which will include cutting into the plaster to see if other parts of the ceiling are loosening, Sickbert said.

Once that analysis is done, the district will have to demolish and renovate any compromised ceiling area, he said.

On Friday, freshman had an e-learning day, McBride said. In an update posted Friday on the district’s website, McBride said freshman will continue online learning into next week as the building is inspected.

McBride wrote Friday that an inspection found there was no asbestos in the debris. When the ceiling collapsed, the room’s univent system shut down so no debris or particles circulated outside the room, he wrote.

“Our goal is to return to in-person learning as quickly as possible, and we hope that we can reenter Central Campus as soon as possible,” McBride wrote Friday.

During the meeting, McBride said district officials will determine how to best continue education for freshman. Options range from online learning to moving freshman to the district’s east campus,.

Moving the freshman to east campus would present some challenges, McBride said, as the two buildings have different bell schedules. East campus gets congested during passing periods, he said, so it would be difficult to accommodate an additional 1,000 students there.

“The difficulty of that will be high and inconvenient,” McBride said. “It will take creativity and require patience.”

Moving forward, McBride said while the district has been discussing renovations at Central Campus, any ceiling repairs that are required will be completed immediately.

“Those repairs will have to happen now,” McBride said.

Over the last year and a half, McBride said district officials and community members have held discussions about some form of renovation to Central Campus. The ceiling collapse underscores the need to renovate the campus, he said.

“We’e back at the place of what to do with Central Campus,” McBride said. “There’s nothing more obvious than what we’re talking about right now that we need something more substantial to keep the building and ensure its integrity.”

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 the campus, McBride has said.

“That strategy can’t go on,” McBride said. “Time is really no longer on our side.”

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During the board’s Oct. 2 committee meeting, members directed DLA Architects to propose a scaled back, phased renovation of the campus at a cost between $70 million and $85 million.

DLA Architects said Thursday within that budget they can propose a project that, among other things, adds three classrooms, increases overall classroom space by 20% and maintains the main entrance at its current location and adds ADA compliance elements.

McBride said the board needs to give voters enough time to learn about the referendum elements, to address current issues at central campus and, if it comes to it, to weigh if the building should continue as a school.

“Time is of the essence,” McBride said. “You’re at a crossroads.”