A cloud of debris, ceiling panels and beams fell on the gym bleachers where dozens of Logan Elementary students eat lunch and play gym games every school day.
Fortunately, this happened at 11:35 a.m. on July 24, a few weeks before school was to start in Moline.
The bleacher tables that usually would seat 60 or so students were covered in ceiling materials, the trail of materials stopped right before the gymnasium’s half court line.
The Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times was able to go to the district office to watch the footage of the ceiling collapse through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Staff were on-site within an hour, with some staff there within 30 minutes, according to documents and video released through a FOIA.
The project to fix the ceiling and damage cost under $42,000. While only half of the ceiling collapsed, the other half was taken down and reconstructed due to an investigation by Legat Architects and IMEG that determined it was necessary to “prevent further issues and ensure the long-term safety of the space.”
“Due to the emergent nature of this situation — and in an effort to complete repairs before the start of school — we have contracted Builders Sales and Service to proceed with the removal of the plaster ceiling, replacement with drywall, and repair and replacement of the drop ceiling,” Chief Financial Officer Vincent Gallo wrote in a email to Superintendent Rachel Savage and staff on Aug. 5. The email was released through a FOIA request.
Moline School District’s facility director Keith Karstens told the Dispatch-Argus/Quad-City Times the district had done a ceiling and lighting remodel in 2021 and said there were no issues found in the ceiling inspections then.
Karstens also said there was no clear reason why the ceiling collapsed.
“It was a very thick ceiling that was there for a long time and not knowing what has happened over the last 106 years, we can’t determine what could have caused it,” he said.
Karstens also said there was no sign of water leakage and that it was a “perfect cut, like almost somebody cut out that section overnight and it fell.”
The reconstruction project took about a month and students didn’t use the gym until three days after the Aug. 15 start of school. Parents were warned about the gym being under maintenance at an event and through emails a few days before school started. Students ate breakfast in their classrooms and lunch outside.
Looking back, Superintendent Rachel Savage said the school did everything it could.
“We do everything that we’re supposed to do, and we don’t let our inspections go past due. We don’t let our regional office inspections go past due. We stay in compliance with the things that we’re supposed to do,” Savage said.
Renovations are planned but with the school being built more than a hundred years ago, there are challenges, she said.
“School buildings are designed to last 100 years. And I would venture to guess every school district in the United States of America has old school buildings. I believe that every school district would like to have brand new, modern facilities, and little by little, that’s the goal. We know that Logan is a part of our long-range facility plan, and we’re working on that right now,” Savage said.
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