Document text
Crater High School back in session By Kevin Opsahl Updated: Sep 26, 2022 12:11 PM A A High school was closed most of last week to while engineers assess problems with roof trusses in old gym An event tent set up to be used as a cafeteria at Crater High School in Central Point. Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune Crater High School reopened Monday after being closed for much of last week, when crews discovered structural problems in the old gym building. An official close to the superintendent’s office confirmed that Crater, which includes three institutions within Central Point School District 6, is in session. Matthew Meunier, principal of the Crater Academy of Health and Public Service, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Crater officials and students worked diligently Wednesday, when the closure announcement was made, to set up tents and tables for a temporary lunch room; convert the lunch and band rooms into temporary classrooms; and remove students’ personal belongings from lockers in the problematic areas of the school. Those areas are confined to the old gym structure, built in the 1950s and remodeled in the 1970s. But the source of the problem — the building’s trusses — were built in the 1950s, according to District Superintendent Walt Davenport. Last Wednesday, engineers discovered structural deficiencies while assessing the truss area of the old building for installation of a new HVAC system as part of ongoing bond improvement projects, the superintendent said. “We’re working with experts out of Portland and other construction experts in the area to dig down and assess the trusses and other components in more detail, and we will be actively pursuing a remedy,” he said last week. The temporary loss of 20 classrooms affects all three of the campus’s small high schools, according to Davenport. On Monday, the superintendent said “evaluation and assessment of the building will continue this week.” He said he should have more information to share in a few days. Reach reporter Kevin Opsahl at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KevJourno.