A roof collapsed at an Oakland Park middle school on Friday, and more than 10 people were taken to the hospital after evacuating.
Scared and confused children evacuated James S. Rickards Middle School after the roof over the media center, or library, collapsed mid-morning. Many ditched their belongings as they hurried away.
No one was in the media center at the time because it was under construction, a district spokeswoman said.
More than 10 people — students and adults — were taken to Holy Cross and Broward Health hospitals in Fort Lauderdale with minor injuries, said Steve Gollan, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue.
A school district statement said: “Several students and adults had minor medical complaints, including headaches, anxiety and issues related to asthma. They were treated by fire rescue and transported as a precaution to area hospitals.”
Principal Washington Collado discovered the collapsed roof after hearing a loud noise shortly before 10 a.m., said school district spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion.
After the collapse, the sprinkler system burst and caused flooding, according to an email from the district.
A total of 184 students and 55 faculty walked to nearby Northeast High. Enrollment on campus at both schools is lower than normal, given that COVID-19 concerns have prompted many parents to have their kids educated remotely.
The scene was traumatic for many students who said they didn’t understand why they had to evacuate or why they were surrounded by police cars and news helicopters, said Rielly Atilus, 11, a sixth grader who was in world history class at the time.
Rielly said some feared it was a school shooting. She said she wasn’t close enough to the media center to hear the roof collapse.
“My friends were asking, ‘What happened?'” she said. “When the police arrived, people starting crying.”
She said they walked about 20 minutes to Northeast and waited in bleachers in the gymnasium.
Rielly said she first learned what happened through a news report. She said she was relieved no one was seriously hurt.
“It’s a good thing they were working on the media center and no one was in there. It could have been a lot worse if people had been in there,” she said. “They could have gotten hurt or killed.”
The cause of the collapse is unknown, Concepcion said.
“That will all be under investigation. A lot of evaluating will need to take place. The safety of our students and faculty is of the utmost importance.”
The school district said students who were physically attending the school will revert to e-learning from home next week.
That could be a problem for students who left their belongings behind, thinking it was a fire drill.
“My daughter doesn’t have a book bag or a computer or her assignments,” said Muriel Theophin-Atilus, Rielly’s mom. “It was an evacuation. Students just left their things.”
Rickards parents who have questions are asked to call a special hotline at 754-322-1550.
The school is one of more than 100 under construction as part of the school district’s $800 million bond program, which has been plagued by delays and mismanagement since voters passed it in 2014.
One complaint has been that the district has renovated weight rooms and libraries at schools with failing roofs. The Rickards library is one that had already received new furniture, according to recent photos on the district bond program website.
The roof was installed by Atlas-Apex Roofing, which has been awarded most of the roof work in the district and is considered the most successful company in a roofing program that has been marred with delays and failed inspections.
A statewide grand jury is looking into roofing inspections as part of its investigation on school safety, security and corruption issues in Broward and other districts.
In an interim report released in December, the grand jury accuses the district’s building department of sabotaging the bond program. It recommends abolishing the department and turning inspections over to county or municipal inspections departments.
The grand jury accused the district’s building department of delaying projects for years in an apparent effort to secure certain large-scale projects for preferred vendors.
Wayne K. Roustan can be reached at wkroustan@sunsentinel.com or 561-379-6119 or on Twitter @WayneRoustan
