Superintendent: Beth-Center Middle School safe to reopen
DEEMSTON – A structural engineer has determined the Bethlehem-Center Middle School is safe to reopen after heavy rain saturated its roof during the remnants this week from Tropical Storm Gordon.
Classes will resume in the building Monday after middle school students were relocated Thursday to classrooms in other buildings, district Superintendent Christopher S. Sefcheck said.
“Our kids are going to be safe back in that building,” Sefcheck said during a special school board meeting that evening.
The meeting was called to approve negotiations to spend as much as $10.3 million to replace the roofs and make other improvements to the three school buildings on the Deemston campus.
The resolution authorizes the execution of a cooperative purchasing agreement under the U.S. Communities, a program that can reduce the cost of construction at schools.
Sefcheck said the board’s buildings and grounds committee will schedule a meeting to allow local taxpayers to comment on the need to install new heating and air-conditioning units at the three buildings. The need to make repairs to the middle school swimming pool also will be discussed at that meeting.
Water damages at the middle school and elementary school were discovered after the storm soaked the region for three consecutive days, dropping at least 5.5 inches of rain over a 72-hour period.
The district cancelled classes Tuesday and Wednesday and it operated under a two-hour delay Thursday because of the storm damages. Middle school students were attending classes Thursday and today in the high school and elementary school because of the problems with the roofs.