By: Mark Vest | West Bloomfield Beacon | Published June 29, 2022
KEEGO HARBOR — Shortly before the end of the school year, parents of Roosevelt Elementary School students were informed that their children would have to learn remotely for the remainder of the school term.
In this case, COVID-19 was not to blame for the decision the West Bloomfield School District made to switch to remote learning.
In a letter addressed to Roosevelt families, WBSD Superintendent Gerald Hill explained the reason for the decision.
“On Thursday, June 2, after school concluded for the day, the ceiling collapsed in one of the unused classrooms at Roosevelt Elementary School,” Hill stated. “Thankfully, this happened after hours and no one was in the room or injured. The district is working with our insurance company and an engineering company to evaluate the safety of the entire building.”
Kyle Anderson, who is the district’s assistant superintendent for business and operations, shared further details.
“At about 5:30, we had some ceiling material fall to the floor in one of the classrooms,” Anderson said. “We had nine days remaining at that point, (and) did some remote learning.”
Anderson said the room was not being used this year.
An engineering company was expected to go to Roosevelt to conduct an evaluation and then provide a report to the district after press time.
A walk-through of the classroom was not sufficient enough to provide any definitive answers as to the cause of the collapse.
“There is no visual indication that we can see,” Anderson said. “The engineers who did a walk-through, just brief, they couldn’t see anything, so we’re not sure. We’re really looking forward to their assessment, to try to figure out what happened.”
As of press time, Anderson said he did not have a time frame for when a report would be delivered to the district.
He added that he did not want the district to “get in front of that report.”
“Let’s get the experts to tell us what happened, if they can, and just evaluate the whole situation with experts,” Anderson said. “I’ve not had anything like this in my career. … Safety’s our No. 1 priority for students and staff.”
Families of Roosevelt students are likely wondering whether or not the report will lead to the school being shut down.
At over 100 years old, Roosevelt is the longest continuously operating school building in Oakland County.
In 2020, there was an uproar when people learned that the district was considering closing Roosevelt and potentially opting to consolidate from five elementary schools to four.
It was believed at the time that Roosevelt or Scotch Elementary School in West Bloomfield would be the most likely to close.
As for what may happen going forward, Anderson said that more discussion about strategic planning will take place after Dania Bazzi assumes her position as the district’s new superintendent July 1.
Despite concluding the 2021-22 school year with remote learning, the year did not completely end on a sour note for Roosevelt students, as they were able to partake in celebrations.
“We made sure that the end-of-year activities were all kept in place the best we could,” Anderson said. “We provided transportation for those special events. We tried to give those students year-end closure — fun activities (the) best way we could.”