News

Actions

Glendale closing down Landmark and Challenger schools for up to five weeks due to repairs

Posted at 12:12 PM, Sep 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-12 10:13:09-04

Two Glendale elementary schools will be closing for up to five weeks for repairs.

According to the Glendale Elementary School District, Challenger and Landmark schools are closing due to structural concerns with the buildings.

The structural deficiencies were discovered during improvements that were underway at both Challenger and Landmark.

Jim Cummings, a spokesperson for the Glendale Elementary School District, said, "...In every building on both campuses, there are varying degrees of decay to the walls. How much decay depends on where you look. But, the uncertainty here is that we don't know how much damage because there are areas that we simply cannot see."

Experts later determined that steps needed to be taken to deem both buildings safe for students.

"What we are concerned about is a severe weather event," Cummings said. "Whether it be a microburst, a high-wind event, maybe like a hurricane that swept in...something like that would actually sweep the wall from the bottom, not from the top. It's basically like having your feet swept out from under you; that's what we're concerned about."

Currently, students from both schools will not have class Monday, September 12 through Wednesday, September 15.

School officials say they are working on implementing a temporary location along with split schedules amongst all schools in the district.

The split schedule will have students attending classes for half days until Challenger and Landmark are finished.

The district will be holding three community meetings to address parent and community concerns.

Meetings will take place at the Glendale Civic Center on Monday at 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7 p.m.