The scene at Ebeye Public Elementary School last Friday was typical of any other day of the week: The school’s kindergarten students were in their classroom and ready for action around 8am.
Their classroom activity went until 10am, when the students and their teachers took their usual recess break. Moments after leaving their classroom, most of the heavy plywood and timber ceiling collapsed into the classroom.
Pieces of plywood, wood support beams, and pipes with electrical wiring fell into the classroom onto tables and chairs that, only minutes before, had over two dozen students happily engaged in their daily learning activities.
It was a close brush with what could have been a disaster with many injured children and teachers.
One teacher told the Journal that this is one of the oldest buildings on the Ebeye Public Elementary campus that has had “no renovation in decades” despite teachers complaining to Public School System officials about the leaking roof for years.
In recent years, the roof and ceiling of this kindergarten classroom has been “leaking so heavily, when it rains students are sent home,” the teacher pointed out.