Education

When the roof of Barranca Mesa Elementary School’s gym blew off in May, school officials looked at the incident as a wake-up call. A recent investigation has caused the district and the board to ask some hard questions about building codes and climate change.

At a recent meeting District Assets manager Joan Ahlers reminded the board that not only has building code changed since most of the roofs in the district were installed (25 to 30 years ago) but so has the weather.

“With Barranca and Piñon, in light of the most recent wind event we’ve had, the question raised if the roofs were properly installed. The roofs were installed properly, but they were installed over 25 to 30 years ago... However they are no longer up to code so they all probably need to be replaced,” Ahlers said. “...For example, uplift in this part of the country was never really considered very heavily, uplift was only considered in areas of the country that had hurricanes and tornadoes.”

In recent wind incidents involving roof damage, students were not present. At Barranca, that incident happened on a Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday is a half-day at Barranca.

After some discussions with the district building superintendent Jeff Sargent, Ahlers noted that at least seven roofs need to be replaced.

It appears the Los Alamos Middle School will not be ready in time when school starts in August.

The news came through David Wharram, a spokesman for McCarthy Construction.

“The progress is good, however, the schedule, which was issued in May, is basically a month behind,” he said to the board members at a recent meeting on construction progress.

That would put the new date of completion at around Sept. 9, and that date does not include obtaining a certificate of occupancy from the county.

Wharram said they are just now beginning to install the wiring for computers and media and through the media center and to all of the classrooms, a “critical part” he said was supposed to have been completed on May 29.

“That reflection on progress goes throughout the rest of the building, so you are looking at this schedule being at least three weeks behind,” Wharram added.

The good news is that the school board and McCarthy Construction, the contractor in charge of the project planned for this back in May, coming up with a plan that would keep most of the middle school’s portable campus in place until the supposed Aug. 8 date of completion, just in case it was looking like the school would not be open by then.

Though they served the middle school well, it’s probably a sure bet no one is going to miss the portable classrooms.

When the work at the middle school is finally completed, students will be in for a totally different experience.

If there could be only be two words used to sum up the new Los Alamos Middle School, it would be “unity” and “efficiency.” From the boiler rooms to the new courtyard, the building has been designed to provide a more cohesive learning experience for students, and a cohesive working environment for teachers and staff.

One of the more dramatic elements involves the school’s interior which works to keep a group of students with their assigned teachers all day, making for a smooth, uninterrupted learning experience for both the students and teachers.

“It’s all about building camaraderie, teamwork, being together, less travel time during the day for core classes,” said Middle School Principal Rex Kilburn.

He said it will be a new experience for everyone, and hopefully a far better one than last school year, when the school was under construction. Though the portable classrooms valiantly served their purpose in educating students, everyone was very spread out.

The 70th annual Los Alamos High School commencement exercises, which took place in Griffith Gymnasium Saturday, were a mixture of cheers, laughter, remembrance, wittiness, and, of course, pop culture references.

The gym was packed with Hilltopper family and friends, and excitement was in the air as the 2013 graduates and guests, led by fellow graduate Cassidy Reeves, stood up for the NJROTC Color Guards and the national anthem.

Graduate Naftali Burakovsky introduced the first alumni speaker in the history of LAHS. Dr. Kurt Steinhaus, Director of Community Programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, charmed his audience with his self-proclaimed “straight talk,” which gave life advice with the help of Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey, Yogi Berra, and Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes.

Then student speaker Nasim Andrews, introduced by Aaron Roybal, urged her peers to remember the moment and say thank you to those who have helped the students to get to that point. Her speech, “Today We Say Thank You,” encouraged the crowd to view life as “a card signed with love” for all the important people in their lives.