It has been three weeks since one of the schools in Aniak was abruptly closed due to structural concerns in the gymnasium. Now, the Kuspuk School District says it has prepared for the worst.
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, the district hosted a meeting at the Aniak Community Hall. Administrators told families that the community hall is the designated evacuation point if the gym roof at its sixth to 12th grade school suddenly collapses.
The district said that more than 10 tons of building materials recently arrived in Aniak, and that a construction crew is currently working on scaffolding to shore up and protect the gym roof.
The gym was closed in early January after people reported that it was actively cracking open and that the majority of the wooden supporting joists had snapped, according to superintendent Madeline Aguillard.
In mid-January, Aguillard said that a structural engineer recommended that the gym be demolished and said that it was unsafe to occupy the junior and senior high school altogether. The roughly 50 displaced students are currently taking classes alongside younger peers in the attached elementary school.
Over the past weeks, the district says staff have been doing evacuation drills so students can practice reaching the community hall and are accounted for in the case of an emergency.
Aguillard told community members at the Feb. 4 meeting that she is confident the district can maintain classes for Aniak’s roughly 100 total students, even if its newly-built elementary school is deemed unsafe to occupy. She said that the district office has ample space, and that the local Native corporation has offered up use of an old elementary school as well.
The district said that its final action plan will depend on what a team of engineers and the district’s insurer find during their visit to Aniak next week.
Aguillard also said that it has been a tough situation. The schools are more than just buildings, and this closure has come at the heart of basketball season and left a lot of academic and community events up in the air.
