Update: Friday, 1 p.m.
Juneau School District Superintendent Frank Hauser said students may transition to remote learning if schools remain closed next week.
“We’ll continue to monitor conditions and receive reports from CBJ and engineers on the roofs, and walk-throughs of our facilities will be occurring throughout the weekend,” Hauser said.
During a meeting on Wednesday, Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said the district hired a 25-person crew to clear school roofs.
Hauser said schools’ principals will reach out with more information. The school district’s website will also provide updates.
Original story:
Juneau School District has cancelled school Friday due to hazardous road and weather conditions as an atmospheric river arrives.
The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch advisory overnight, and a flood watch is in effect through Saturday night for Juneau and much of the Southeast. Governor Mike Dunleavy declared a state disaster ahead of the storm on Wednesday at the request of Juneau city and tribal officials. The state declaration allows the city to access state funding and other resources to respond to the storm.
JSD announced the district closure Thursday evening. Earlier that day, students were removed from Mendenhall River Community School due to concerns for the gymnasium’s stability under heavy snow. The school was evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” JSD said in a statement Thursday afternoon, and all students and staff safely relocated to Thunder Mountain Middle School.
The MRCS school building itself was cleared for occupancy by engineers that morning, with roof shoveling set to begin Friday day, JSD said. After another inspection later in the day, concerns arose over the gymnasium, which was constructed differently from the school building.
This week’s snow and rain showers falling overtop dense snowpack across the city has continued to raise concerns about dangerous snow loads.
Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said at a media availability Wednesday that the vast majority of the city’s facilities and all schools and hospitals were under their snow load capacities.
“When we see facilities go over their design capacity, we’ve been performing further investigations and deloading those roofs where possible and limiting occupancy,” Barr said.
Deloading roofs of large facilities has proven complex and time consuming, Barr said. JSD said that the district has hired a 25-person crew to clear school roofs.
All JSD schools were closed Monday and Tuesday due to hazardous road conditions. Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx̱ Glacier Valley Elementary School remained closed all week due to concerns about snowpack adding to preexisting damage to the building.
The City and Borough of Juneau also announced that city facilities would be closed Friday.
CBJ said it encourages residents to stay off the road if possible, to allow street crews to plow the road to facilitate drainage and prevent ponding as heavy rainfall arrives.
