In light of events surrounding the Metropolis Skating Rink
yesterday, I wanted to update you on where the school district is with regards
to snow removal on our roofs. Throughout
the winter, especially over the past month, we have been working with the
building commissioner to monitor the snow levels on our roofs. Our maintenance team has spent time clearing
drifts off our roofs and are continually monitoring the support structure below
the roofs to gauge if/when there is any movement of note in the roofs.
We brought in a structural engineer this weekend who has worked on
our roofs over the years and has a strong understanding of each building’s roof
envelope. He spent yesterday and today assessing
our roofs with our maintenance director.
He looked at all areas of the roofs, but paid close attention to the larger
expanses such as the gym, library, auditorium and cafeterias at our schools. He identified areas at various schools that
had larger drifts or loads on the roofs and we worked all Sunday removing those
areas of snow. We had over two dozen
workers clearing the areas identified by the engineer since 7:00 AM this
morning and as of 6:00 PM tonight, all but one area cited has been addressed.
The one space that could not be immediately addressed was the snow
load that is on the lower roof above the GMS library. While the engineer did not see any distress
at all in the roof support, he noted that the load on the roof was substantial.
Due to the solar panels that are located
on that section of the roof, removing the snow manually is not feasible. While the engineer did not say it was
mandatory, we have decided to err on the side of caution and we will keep the
GMS library closed for at least three days to allow for some natural draining
to occur with the warmer weather that is projected over the next few days. We will reassess the roof before we re-open
the library.
This has been an historic winter for snowfall and the maintenance
and custodial team of the District, along with the town’s DPW, have done superb
work in tackling the elements. We need
to be ever diligent however, and having the engineer assess our roofs and the
additional workers clean off areas of our roofs this weekend were steps we felt
were appropriate to ensure the safety of our students and staff. We have communicated these steps with our
building commissioner and fire chief and will continue to work with them in the
coming days as we monitor all of these areas.
Thank you and have a good night.