Another school crisis

David is praying for rain tomorrow. That is because some thieves got in at the weekend and stripped most of the lead off the school roof. Being less than two decades old, it is a modern building with concrete tiles but the flashing has been somewhat problematic for many years now and major remedial action is imminent as piecemeal repairs no longer suffice.

As a consequence of the most recent "modifications", any downpour becomes an internal deluge and apparantly the Staff Ladies Toilet suffered a major ceiling collapse.

So, the school is at risk- any bad weather over the next few days may mean enforced closure. We have a letter from the head but it is a little short on the important stuff, like how long it would have to close.

However, the school suffered a creeping disaster last September, which I blogged about at the time. Bloggerwife was considerably more displeased than I was and asked me to raise it with the Governors.

I recently stood down as a Parent Governor as I was it finding it too tiring (indeed I have stood down from practically all of my activities) but in my most recent meeting I did question what would happen if the unthinkable happened (such as a major fire) and was assured that Education Leeds would step in and arrange for the continuing education of the children by bussing, re-allocation and use of spare premises. I suggested that it might be a good topic for discussion at the Morley Family of Schools as agreement in principle from others would lead to hopefully some creative solutions through a crisis. However, it seems I may have misunderstood the purpose of the Morley Family of Schools, it is actually more about inculcating socialism.

The photograph is a celebrated 20's movie star Gloria Swanson standing in the partially demolished lobby of the 1927 New York Roxy Theatre in 1960. For some reason, it popped into my head through free association of rain and collapsing roofs.

UPDATE: The senior management team have assured us that closing the school is an absolute last resort and would only be for a maximum of one day. That is a very positive reassurance and they are working hard to tackle the issues as they come up.