25 September 2022

 DECA started up again this year with Team 25, the 25th team their teacher has coached. From the left are Mary, Noah, Helen, Collin and Aunika.

Helen and Gibson went to the Crater girls' soccer game on Tuesday night.

At about 10:30 pm on Tuesday night, Becky was finishing up her lesson plans when she started getting emails from school. Construction workers who are installing a new HVAC system discovered failing trusses in the roof over part of the school. Crater High School was built in 1952. The portion in the photo was originally the gym. A new gym was built in the 1970s and the old gym was divided into two stories and converted into classrooms. 

The trusses in the old gym are bowstring trusses, a popular choice for inexpensive buildings in the first half of the 20th century. Bowstring trusses can span a large space without requiring interior supports and can be built with cheap material and labor. They are rarely used anymore as they have proven to be unable to support heavy loads over time unless they are heavily engineered, which makes them as expensive to build as other choices. They are also a fire hazard. Here is an example of a building with bowstring trusses from the internet. The trusses at Crater are not exposed to view. The weight of the building was causing the arches in the bowstring trusses to flatten, shearing some of the bolts that secured the trusses in place and threatening to push the outer walls over, potentially triggering a catastrophic collapse of the building. The problem required immediate attention. School was canceled for the rest of the week.

The school principals and district superintendent met late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning and came up with a plan to shift the 20 classrooms housed in the affected part of the school to other parts of the school. The high school doesn't have empty classrooms and was already tight on space because of the HVAC construction project, but they somehow found a home for everyone. Becky's classroom wasn't in the dangerous part of the school, but she was moved to a portable classroom. Her old room has excellent internet connectivity and is now being used by a teacher who needs a computer station for each student. The portables only have wi-fi. A few teachers who don't have to move helped her quickly pack up her classroom.

This is her new room.

The fall sports coaches asked all of their athletes to come to school and help teachers move. A group of students moved all of Becky's things in about 15 minutes. 

This group of students moved her very heavy steel desk. Maybe trusses in the 1950s weren't built to last, but desks were.

Gibson, Eddy and Jason were also on campus helping other teachers move.

Another teacher had to move out of the portable before Becky could set up her classroom so she spent Thursday helping where needed. Classrooms were set up in every available space. Many teachers are now doubled up with two classes sharing a space. Four teachers are sharing the cafeteria.  The special ed classroom is now in the lobby of the performing arts center. The band teacher moved into a tent in the parking lot so his large classroom could be used by an English teacher and a social studies teacher. Moving everything out of the band room took all of Thursday morning with lots of students helping. Overall, everyone has pitched in and worked hard to make the best of a stressful situation. Everyone agreed that moving classes back online was not an option and was willing to sacrifice to keep kids at school in person.

By Friday afternoon, Becky could organize her own classroom. Here it is, ready for students to return on Monday morning.

In the meantime, engineers evaluated the building and construction started to shore up the trusses using a post-tensioning system. 6 X 6 inch timbers will reinforce the trusses and the structure will be pulled together with steel cables. No one knows how long the repairs will take or if they will uncover other structural issues as they work. 

Helen and Gibson enjoyed the unexpected break from school, spending lots of time with friends. Helen had started coming down with a cold, but being able to sleep cured her cold quickly. This is a photo of them on Saturday night, headed to the western themed stake dance.