Quick response to ceiling collapse at Babylon Junior/Senior High

The Babylon School District welcomed back 1,859 students on Wednesday, September 3, 2008. After a smooth opening week, school board members and the district's administrators faced a slight setback on Sunday evening, September 7, when a portion of the ceiling located on the third floor in the Babylon Junior- Senior High School building collapsed.

No injuries occurred and district administrators worked quickly with the engineers and maintenance department to assess the damage and situation, reported Ellen Best-Laimit PhD, the district's superintendent, at the school board's first meeting of the year - September 8, 2008. Pieces of the plaster ceiling, glue components, and the air were tested immediately for the presence of asbestos. Results were negative.

The collapse affected the building's computer operability for several days and the entire third floor remains closed to students and faculty. Classrooms and student lockers were re-located. Temporarily, the computer labs are located in the library and wrestling room. All mats were removed and the room was thoroughly cleaned, added Best-Laimit.

Repairs to the ceiling began on Tuesday, September 16, the day after the board held an emergency meeting to review contract bids. The job was awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. The entire third-floor ceiling will be replaced.

"The weight of the inch and half plaster ceiling caused it to collapse," said Best-Laimit. "It will be replaced with a lighter suspended ceiling." The original framework remains intact. Construction should last about a month.

In other news:

• The district petitioned the Suffolk County Police Department and secured another crossing guard at the of North Carll Avenue and Grove Place.

•The Grade School courtyard project is up and running and will probably take about two years to complete. Grade School Principal Eric Friedman said the level of volunteerism, teachers and community members, was unprecedented.

•A new state regulation requires that if a class is deemed an inclusion class, then a special education teacher must be in the class every day.

•One parent raised concern about teaching time lost due to independent reading time at the middle school level and asked why students are not held accountable for what they read. Could independent reading be followed up with a writing assignment? High school Social Studies teacher and president of the Babylon Teachers Association, Dennis Lally, said students are writing in classes like history and parents should be mindful of this.

The board's next regular meeting is Tuesday, October 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the high school library.