School building closed this spring while failing gym roof trusses are addressed • Students will return to school site this fall
Kelly Middle School and Yujin Gakuen Japanese Immersion School have returned to distance learning for the last few weeks of the spring—not due to COVID, but to an unrelated facility issue.
Two roof trusses are failing in one of the building’s three gymnasiums, known as the “inner gym.” District facilities personnel are working with structural engineers and building contractors to evaluate the roof issue, shore up the failing components, and make a plan to fully repair the problem.
When the issue was identified, the district alerted staff and families at Kelly and Yujin Gakuen and shifted to distance learning in an abundance of caution for the safety of staff and students. The change impacts about 500 students who were attending school on-site two days a week in the hybrid model.
The school building will not reopen this spring. For the last few weeks of the 2020–21 school year, students will continue learning at a distance, and selected students will come in for in-person engagement on certain days at a different school site.
Students and staff are expected to be able to safely return to the school building this fall, although the inner gym itself will not be usable until repairs are completed. As the building has three gymnasiums—unusual for a middle school building—the schools will have two usable gyms while the inner gym is off-limits. In the meantime, classroom space will also be added, as the superintendent directed earlier this spring that modular classrooms be installed at the school site to accommodate teacher staffing that is being added.
