After a long hiatus, the Haines High School is finally getting a new roof.
Getchell: “Anybody that’s visited our school in the last 5 to 10 years knows that our gym was very leaky…”
Boron: “Y’know, there’s always been problems with the roof, and I remember a few years back we had thirteen 5 Gallon buckets in the gym and we’d have to empty those out every morning.”
Principal Lily Boron and Superintendent Roy Getchell reflecting on their time with the leaky roof. These repairs are a long time coming for the school according to Getchell who says they’ve been waiting on state funding for over a decade.
Getchell: “It’s 10 plus years, I’d have to go back in look, but it’s been a substantial amount of time. And we’ve been kinda stuck on the list in the 30s range. Y’know anywhere from 30 to 40 on the states priority list. But unfortunately there are projects like condemned buildings or schools that are gonna fall into the river and those kinda things that rise to an emergency level. This is a big problem for us, but it’s not necessarily seen as an emergency.”
With state funding seemingly never coming, the Haines Borough stepped up.
Getchell: “The time for action occurred and luckily the borough stepped in to say hey we’re gonna make sure this gets done for you, it’s been a great relief and a great show of support for our children.”
The cost to repair the roof is somewhere in the $600,000 range.
Getchell: “It’s a significant expense, it’s in the ballpark of $600,000 dollars, plus or minus, somewhere in that range. So it is a big project getting an area this size done. And getting it done in the conditions we’re in, it’s not cheap. That’s one reason the borough’s help is so appreciated. “
The repairs itself are only in the older parts of the school and looking at the structure of where the leaks could be coming from.
Boron: “I think our real issues are in the older end of the building like starting with the district office, they have some leaks in their place. And then we tend to get some leaks in the hallways where there are joints between the different roof levels. I know that part of the roof replacement is looking at the underlying wood structure and making sure that hopefully if there’s any rot that it gets replaced. And then they put down a membrane, and so hopefully that will improve a lot of the little leaks that crop up. We come in the day and we see a new tile that’s sagging and so it’s like where did that come from?”
And if some leaks aren’t taken care of right away, it has resulted in flooding Boron says.
Boron: “There have been plenty of times where there has been flooding and usually it has to do with, when I think about those times it usually happens in the winter, and then there’s ice and then there’s water. And I don’t know the mechanics of that, like exactly how that works, it’s a very large building. And there’s joints in the roof where there’s different levels. So if water gets backed up or there’s a roof drain that is clogged, then that can result in water just pouring out of the roof.”
However, repairs are supposed to be wrapping up by the time school starts according to Getchell.
Getchell: “You just never know in Haines, given the weather and all those kinds of things but, we’ve been fortunate that they’ve been able to get on this, and the hope is to be finished a couple days before school starts, which is good. We don’t wanna be working on the roof while students are present, or at least the major parts. So it appears it should be done before school starts.”
Getchell says he is thankful for the support from the community.
Getchell: “We’ve had really good support from the public facilities manager, Brad Jensen, who’s really just been on top of this, making it a high priority and my hat is off to him and our borough manager and the assembly for making this a priority for getting it done.”
Boron: “I’m really hoping for a dry school year this year…”
Students can expect a watertight year.
