Mendenhall River Community School evacuated due to concerns over gym roof
Update, Thursday 7 p.m.:
All Juneau schools are now closed Friday due to the storm.
The Juneau School District notified parents and staff of the closure Thursday night and said that no remote instruction will take place Friday.
Update, Thursday 5 p.m.:
As of Thursday afternoon, Juneau School District Chief of Staff Kristen Bartlett said the district hasn’t received information that more schools need to be closed for snow removal. She said the city’s engineering team is monitoring schools daily, and that decisions are made on a day-to-day basis.
“It’s a balancing act of making sure that we’re continuing to educate kids and making sure that everyone can be safe while that’s happening,” Bartlett said.
Students successfully evacuated to Thunder Mountain Middle School where parents were able to pick them up Thursday afternoon. They have mixed feelings on how the district has handled the winter storm.
Michael Kohan is a parent of a preschooler at Mendenhall River Community School. She said she appreciates the way the district has handled its response to the storm.
“I’m glad that the school took the precautions that they did, to act out of an abundance of caution and move the kids to TM today and cancel school tomorrow to get snow removal taken care of,” she said.
Sarah Overton has multiple children at the school. She said she wishes the schools weren’t open at all this week.
“I’m glad that I was able to come get them and nothing happened, but I feel like they shouldn’t have had school in session at all if there was any sort of concern, and if they hadn’t shoveled the roof,” she said.
The district expects snow removal at Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx — Glacier Valley Elementary to wrap up Friday as it begins work at Mendenhall River Community School.
Juneau School District Facilities Director Kristy Germain says the school will offer remote learning while closed.
“That process of clearing the roof will continue through the weekend, is the plan,” Germain said. “And then our public announcement to families also includes that we will be communicating if it needs to continue with remote learning on Monday.”
Original story:
Students and staff at Mendenhall River Community School were evacuated from the elementary school Thursday morning due to growing concern about the snow load on the gym roof.
In a news release, the Juneau School District said everyone inside the school is being relocated to Thunder Mountain Middle School “out of an abundance of caution” and that “all students and staff are safe.”
The district is instructing families to pick up students after 1 p.m. from the middle school. Parents and guardians should go to the Thunder Mountain gym entrance facing the Dimond Park Aquatics Center for pick up and must show ID. Any Mendenhall River students not picked up by 2:30 p.m. will be sent home on a school bus.
Crews will start clearing snow from the roof of Mendenhall River school Friday. While the building is closed, the school will offer remote learning.
“Crews will be working through the weekend clearing MRCS. We are hopeful that MRCS will open on Monday, but remote learning may need to be extended into next week if shoveling is not complete,” the district said in the release.
This comes after back-to-back snowstorms dumped more than four feet of snow on Juneau, leading to the city and tribal governments issuing a joint disaster declaration Tuesday. The district says it will continue to monitor all schools as an atmospheric river is forecast to hit Southeast Alaska late Thursday night.
The district closed Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx — Glacier Valley Elementary Wednesday to clear snow off its roof and planned to keep it closed the rest of the week. This followed district-wide closures Monday and Tuesday.
This story has been updated.