Officials: Remaining schools are safe

August 26, 2005

JOEL DAVIDSON\Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Despite the discovery last week of potentially dangerous design flaws at Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School, Mat-Su Borough School District officials expressed confidence that the remaining 36 public school sites were safe for the start of the upcoming school year.

First built in 1972, the Su-Valley school's roof was improperly designed to the point that it can only hold about half the snow weight that it should be able to carry. This discovery last week led the school district to close the entire building this year until the roof can be properly repaired.

"It was a really bad judgment on the part of the original architect," said Mike Schwartz, facility coordinator for the school district. "It had carried heavy snow loads in the past, but there is always a straw that breaks the camel's back."

Parts of the improperly designed roof were also poorly constructed, to the point that they could not even reliably hold what limited amount they were designed for, Schwartz said.

"This is one of those things that it is almost inconceivable that it would happen, that a building would go that long without anyone noticing," he said.

Nearly 200 students would have started classes Sept. 6 inside a structure that could not reliably hold a heavy snowfall, if it weren't for the fact that the Mat-Su Borough issued a study of the school because large chunks of snow and ice kept sliding off the roof.

"We had no indication whatsoever that there was a problem," said Scott Schwald, director of facility maintenance for the school district.

"If someone would have asked me August 16 if the school was safe, I would have said 'yes.'"

On Aug. 17, however, the district discovered the hidden flaws when architectural firm BurkhartCroft issued a report originally intended to solve an entirely different problem regarding large chunks of snow and ice that kept sliding off the roof all at once.

In the course of investigating solutions for the so-called snow-shed problem, architects discovered a note in the building's old blueprints that revealed the roof's limited snow-load capacity, Schwartz said.

The school district's maintenance department makes regular building inspections, but Schwald said internal structures are rarely inspected after the original design and construction are complete.

"We assume that after we accept the building that it meets all codes and regulations and that it is totally safe," he said. "You don't go back and reassess that every year or two or even 20. A lot of those things can't be done without taking Sheetrock off a wall."

During original construction, the Mat-Su Borough provides a project manager who is responsible for overseeing a building's design and construction.

Borough Public Works Director Keith Rountree has worked in his current position for just 11 months and said he doesn't know how the state of the Su-Valley roof went undetected for 32 years.

"I don't have an answer for that, aside from the fact that the Su-Valley roof was one that got through," he said. "We do hire competent engineers to design our facilities."

Once the borough's project manager approves a school facility, it's up to school district maintenance staff to inspect and monitor the building. If major repairs are needed, the school district must notify the borough, which then secures funding and coordinates repairs and upgrades.

"The school district generates the requirements for us," Rountree said. "If a roof needs to be repaired, they notify us."

Inspecting internal structural flaws, however, is not a routine undertaking for school district staff.

Schwartz oversees building inspections for the district but he said checking the internal stability of walls and roofs is not part of the regular inspections. He said there are no current plans to change that.

"I don't have the resources to do a back analysis of some other architect's design," he said, "especially when there are concealed conditions that I can't inspect."

Rountree agreed that funding is a major obstacle to conducting comprehensive architectural studies on every school in the district.

While blueprints and exact designs for snow-load capacity are not available for some older Mat-Su schools, Schwartz said his is confident that the Su-Valley problem is not indicative of possible structural problems with other sites.

In defense of the schools, he cited a study conducted in the 1980s in which most core-area schools were analyzed for heavy snow-load capacity and found to be completely safe.

"The fact that we have discovered a problem does not mean that any other building needs to be checked," he said.

The borough and school district are currently attempting to secure funding for Su-Valley's roof repair.

In the meantime, Su-Valley students are expected to either study in portable

classrooms and/or attend Trapper Creek Elementary this year. Other schooling options include busing Su-Valley students to Houston High and Houston Middle schools.

The borough assembly is expected to address funding options for the repairs at its Sept. 6 meeting.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266, or joel.davidson@ frontiersman.com.