Winter takes a toll on SSHS

Last week’s Enterprise was caught up in the remarkable cold conditions that descended on the region, as were most people in the country.  As the week wore on, stories of ice skating down Bourbon Street in New Orleans and snowmen in Florida filled the news.  In a parallel timeline, less fun stories of local fallout from the frozen weather began to trickle in.  A number of local parents and residents contacted the paper directly to inform us of what they had been told about some of the issues at Soda Springs High School specifically.  Since that information had come in part from the school itself and Principal Jess McMurray, we reached out to him about what happened last week, and what might be coming in the next weeks and months.  District Superintendent Scott Muir was also involved in the conversation.  

As a report of what occurred last week, Principal McMurray explained that “We had the heaters go out in the portables.  We have a total of 4 heating units out there.  We have been running on 2 of them.  When one more went out, we had to remove students from the portable.  It’s tough to learn when it’s 40 degrees!  The other portable has only 1 of 2 heating units working as of now, however, that is enough to keep it rolling for the moment. 4 of 6 air handlers in the high school are not functioning.  Because of the age of these units, we can’t order the coils for them…they need to be custom built.  We were waiting to see what happened with the bond before we tackled the expense of ordering four custom built coils for these air handlers.  One of those air handlers is essentially in the classroom that flooded.  Last week’s long stretch of below zero temperatures caused a pipe to burst in the walls of the room.”

A bond for a new high school building was defeated last fall, though the current building would still be facing the same problems this winter.  A facilities inspection had determined that the life of the school building was nearing or at its expected endpoint, and many of the currently experienced issues had been noted in that evaluation.

Principal McMurray continued, “An ongoing problem with our elevator is when extreme cold temperatures happen, because it is on an outside wall, it quits working. This happened last week due to the extreme cold and our inability to properly heat the building.  We do have students that need this to get to classes, so this definitely interrupts education.  When the elevator does work, it interrupts 3 classes every time it is used as the elevator must be accessed through these three classrooms.”

Weather predictions in the medium term call for similar weather over the rest of this week, with highs in the thirties and lows in the mid teens.  Next week should see some warming, as high are forecast to be in the forties, which should alleviate strain on the facilties.

According to Principal McMurray and Superintendent Muir, the issues at the high school were responded to very quickly and efficiently.  “Fortunately,” McMurray stated, “this past Friday we had a teacher in-service day so the leak was reported very early in the morning.  If it had not been a teacher in-service day the water would have poured into the school for a lot longer period of time.  Ironically, during the fire a couple years ago, had we not had a volleyball practice that morning, the building would have been decimated!”

On the same day, “Mr. Muir had a restoration crew in the building last Friday by 11:30 a.m.!  Rick Christiansen had the elevator up and running by late morning on the day it quit working!  As far as the heat in the portables, we are comparing cost of repairing vs new heaters, so we do not have a solution for our students there yet. We will continue to pursue new coils for the air handlers this summer.”

During discussion of the bond issue last year, there was a lot of discussion about the maintenance of the current building in conjunction with the need for a new one.  McMurray responded to some of those issues:  “I have heard comments from patrons that the high school has not been maintained as well as it should.  I cannot attest to what has happened in the past 60 years, however, I can tell you that our current maintenance crew is absolutely topnotch.  Rick and Rob are very thorough and forward thinking.  They respond to issues quickly and efficiently and take great pride in their work.  Rick has been the lead maintenance person at the high school for only the past 5 years and Rob was hired only a few months ago.  Had these gentlemen been here at the high school for the past 60 years I have no doubt that we would not be where we are now.  If things were not maintained properly decades ago, that is not something that our current students and teachers should have to suffer for.”

Muir and McMurray pointed to some of the immediate issues that will need to be monitored, including the temperature inside the building, space (“we will have classes going in the library for the unforeseen future because we can’t use the one portable”), leaks…(“this is an annual event!”)  and the boiler (“…it came over on the Mayflower…when it goes down. We will have to figure out how to replace it as well”).

Many of the parents who reached out to us expressed concern about their children’s comfort and safety in light of the weather.  McMurray explained that “Due to these challenges in our area this winter at the high school, we will have leaking roof disruptions, space issues, etc. however, these maintenance issues aren’t necessarily what makes students at SSHS unsafe.  One of the safety concerns I have is actually the portables themselves.  We have had parents and students bypass checking in at the office and go into the portables. This creates a safety concern for our outdoor classrooms.”  Principal McMurray noted that the portables could not be secured in the same way as the main building, which necessarily created a safety issue when they were in use that was his primary concern in that area. 

Asked what the biggest concerns in the immediate timeframe are, McMurray stated: “HEAT!  The first bid for heating units for the portables came in at $25,000 and this did not include the other portable.  The coils in the four air handlers that aren’t currently working need to be custom built.  This will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  We need to make it safe for students in the portables.  The roof needs repaired as we have annual leaks with our existing roof.  As everyone knows, post-pandemic prices are just ludicrous, and we just quite simply do not currently have funds to fix all the things that need fixed here at the high school.”

Until either a bond or other source of funding is secured, the district will work down a priority list to ensure that students are able to attend school safely, but the school and the district acknowledge the anxiety that may exist.  “I would ask the community to work with us, be patient and know that we are doing what we can in order to ensure a safe environment for our students,” McMurray said. “We would ask that if you have questions please reach out to the school or the district office. We would welcome any questions and concerns you might have. Please contact us so we can assist you in understanding the challenges we are addressing.”

In terms of how the repair priorities will be determined, Superintendent Muir noted that “our Facilities committee will meet at the minimum on a monthly basis so that we can address the issues at the high school and across the district as they arise. We are open to direct communication from concerned patrons and hope that you will work to assist us during these
challenging times.”

One of those who reached out to us, Rachel Gelser, put it well when she said, in part: “this affects our children.  Our future generation. This affects their learning also because it can be stressful on both the students and the staff to be cold…This really breaks my heart! I think this school district has amazing teachers and staff that are doing such a great job! They seem to really care about the students here and I appreciate everything they have taught my children and continue doing so. I hope we can someday get the funding to upgrade.  A good education is so important. The students and staff should be able to be comfortable. In a community like this we really need to take care of our future generations.”

As developments continue, we will keep you updated in the school district’s ongoing work to keep the high school open and safe for its students.