BAKER MIDDLE SCHOOL: Principal says buildings endanger staff and students

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 8, 2006

By CHRIS COLLINS

The Baker School Board agreed in a special meeting Friday morning to take action aimed at ensuring the safety of its middle school students and staff who the principal says are endangered daily by hazards in the antiquated school buildings.

In response to a plea from Mindi Vaughan, Baker Middle School principal, who said she was speaking for her entire staff, the board instructed Superintendent Don Ulrey to write letters seeking inspections that would evaluate the safety of the buildings in regard to air quality, building codes and fire safety and to seek help from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to control the pigeons that roost on top of the Central Building.

The report results would then be used to make the schools as safe as possible, the board agreed.

Vaughan read from a prepared statement in asking the board to seek inspections of the 72-year-old Helen M. Stack building and the 90-year-old Central Building that comprise the middle school.

andquot;We understand that we may be taking a risk of our buildings being condemned or closed,andquot; she said. andquot;The board should be thinking of an alternative plan if we should be forced to vacate these buildings. Our biggest concern is and always has been the safety of our students and staff, which far outweighs any report that may close our schools for our own safety.andquot;

Voters rejected a $19.8 million bond measure in the Nov. 7 election that would have allocated $18.8 million to build a new middle school; the other $1 million would have been used to make improvements at the district’s six other schools.

Director Deon Strommer said the board and members of the Baker Middle School Task Force learned more about the problems with the two historic schools during the campaign to pass the bond measure.

andquot;This isn’t a problem that happened last week, but I didn’t understand until we became more aware,andquot; he said. andquot;It can’t be ignored. There are some safety issues. We’ve become aware, and we need to become pro-active.andquot;

Director Ginger Savage also spoke of the need for the district to begin preparing a contingency plan in case of an emergency at any of the district’s buildings. There is a plan in place for short-term emergencies, but nothing to address a long-term closure, Ulrey said.

andquot;If we have to evacuate the building, or God forbid, something happens where are we going to put kids?andquot; Savage asked. andquot;The board should be thinking of an alternate plan if we have to evacuate the buildings.andquot;

Vaughan told the board that safety concerns have become more pressing in recent weeks. She outlined these specific problems:

oThe large antiquated fan that blows air to all levels of the Central Building is operating without a safety switch. The switch is broken and the part is on order. Vaughan said she is concerned that the fan will overheat without the safety switch and cause a fire that would be fanned throughout the building. andquot;The whole building could be engulfed in flames before we even knew it was on fire,andquot; she said.

oThree of the five toilets in the second-floor girls restroom in the Central Building are out of order and only two sinks work.

oThe boys bathroom on the bottom floor of the Central Building has been closed for the last month. There is only one bathroom for use on the second floor. Water damage from the roof has caused asbestos tiles in the bathrooms to peel off the floor. Vaughan said pigeon dung on the roof clogs the rooftop drains, sending water into the bathroom below. Replacing the floor tiles will not solve the problem until the roof and drains are repaired, she said.

oStaff members are concerned about the air quality in both buildings. Pigeons and feathers float through the large air vents and into the classrooms, she said. Three staff members have doctors notes suggesting that the air quality in the buildings could be contributing to their asthma symptoms and allergies, she said. One student who hadn’t had an asthma attack in two years had one after taking a PE class in the Central School gym. He now takes PE with the eighth-graders in the HMS gym.

oThe staff is concerned about how the school would evacuate 155 students from the single door in the cafeteria if a fire started during lunchtime.

oThe boiler room floods with city sewage water annually.

oThe school’s sewage backs up near one classroom in the HMS building.

oStudents and staff slipped on wet floors after the first snowfall of the year.

oCustodians sweep a pile of red dust from the HMS stairs daily. Vaughan said she would like to have the dust tested to determine if the dust is asbestos.

oThe fire alarms at the school have been malfunctioning and have the same tone as the bells used to signal the end of classes, she said. She is concerned that staff and students will fail to respond in case of a real fire because of the false alarms.