Pleasant Valley High School may look very modern on the outside, but it is difficult to walk through the halls without noticing missing ceiling tiles caused by ceiling leaks.
Current leaks can be seen around the tower, choir room and indoor track. The building has different ages of roofs which is a factor in the leaks. Older sections are much more likely to leak than newer ones, but environmental factors also have an impact on the school’s rubber roofing. The 2020 derecho storm caused debris to skid across the roof and potentially could have made multiple new holes.
Leaks do not always appear right after a hole is created in a section of roofing. But as principal Darren Erickson put it, “water finds a way.” It is very difficult to patch every leak in the building, especially when unknown leaks may exist. The custodial staff is doing what they can to keep the school dry.
The school custodians have a long list of daily jobs to complete, and other issues often come up that require immediate attention. Head custodian Dave Wheeler commented on the department. “The custodial staff is short handed,” he said. They are working on getting another custodian, which will allow them to spend more time on problems like controlling leaks.
Wheeler explained that the ceiling tiles are not always able to be replaced right after the leaks are fixed. This is the reason for some missing panels around the school. The main responsibilities of the custodians are controlling already existing leaks and replacing ceiling tiles, but the district is in charge of patching and replacing the roof.
There have been around 12 additions to the high school since its original construction in 1960. Each of these additions happened at different times, meaning the roofs are not all the same age. This means the roofing around the school is in varying conditions, so it is more likely to leak in certain areas.
Some sections of the roof have reached the end of their 30 year lifetime and are in need of replacement. The district works with a third party company to make changes to the roof. This third party repairs or replaces the roof, depending on what is required.
The district is systematically replacing the roofing around all of the school. “The Science Wing was a brand new roof two summers ago and then above the guidance office was also brand new two years ago,” Wheeler said. “The district has been working on getting bids to either repair or replace [the cafeteria roof].”
It takes time for the district to acquire bids for the resources and labor necessary to patch and replace the roof. But it is expensive. “In 2020 the estimated cost to replace the entire roof at the high school was 2.71 million dollars,” said Zenk. The district is also in charge of maintaining the other buildings like the elementary schools.
The high school will have leaks patched once the weather warms up a bit, but full replacement of any sections has been pushed back to after this summer. This means that leaks will have to be controlled and repaired for the next couple months at least. Students can help the custodians by pointing out any leaks they see throughout the building.
Mary Withers • Sep 8, 2023 at 8:50 am
I agree that we need to improve our roof, along with our pipe system to prevent this from happening every time it heavily rains. The information about how leaks work shows that we need to be proactive about the issue instead of reactive when our tiles start leaking everywhere.
Malayna Albertson • Sep 21, 2022 at 10:14 am
I agree pv might loon all nice and big from the outside and up to date but when you in the school you walk through the halls and then theirs just a bucket you have to walk around with. tile missing form ceiling with the ceiling leaking.
CJ Smith • Aug 26, 2022 at 9:31 pm
I think because of the high cost of replacing the roof at $2.71 million it isn’t easy to get funding when there was recently an extension to the school. As well as replacing the entire roof when some parts are old and some are newer. However exceeding that 30 year lifetime could also create unsafe conditions for students in the school.
ZuZu Vincel • Aug 26, 2022 at 11:40 am
Since I was a freshman (I’m a senior now) I remember always having leaks at least once a year, and they need to be fixed before the problem gets even worse. The longer we wait the worse it will get, but the question is, does PV have 2.71 million dollars to spend? That is quite a bit of money and the other schools in the district need fixing as well. It’s good that if they can’t spend that money that they have a backup plan, and that is to patch the holes when it’s warmer out.
Rusty VanWetzinga • Aug 26, 2022 at 10:33 am
Despite $2.7 million sounding like a lot of money I believe there should be more money poured into roofing maintenance due to the high school not being the only school that has these problems. When I walked into the Junior High last year they seemed to have more leaking problems than the high school did.
Cole Pearson • Aug 25, 2022 at 3:32 pm
I walked into the school about 2 weeks early for my senior recap meeting with my counselor and saw trash cans all over the school scattered everywhere trying to ensure the leaks would not end up all over the floor. It has become annoying for students to walk around and see laying all over the floor around the school. I can see that the school would not want to pay 2.71 million dollars to fix the leaks but I think that as the leaks are left unfixed it will create more leaks and could eventually lead to the school paying more than 2.71 million in the future to fix the leak problem.
Luke Vonderhaar • Feb 16, 2022 at 11:11 am
The money aspect of it I could see being a deterrent for the school to shell out. However its good to know they are going to patch things when it gets warm. If they pushed it off anymore i could see it creating worse problems and require much more maintenance for the janitorial staff. Excellent article Ryan.
Aidan Judd • Feb 10, 2022 at 10:34 am
$2.71 million seems like a lot of money to replace a roof when the janitors could continue solving this problem by just putting down bins below where the leaks are. On the indoor track there are two or three trash cans that are slowly being filled by water and I can think of a couple other places in the school where we have the same problem. Now if this gets more serious where there are bins everywhere and it becomes hard to walk in the hallway then I think the school should consider getting a new roof. If it were to come to that, what funds would they get $2.71 million from? Also considering all the other repairs many other schools in our school district probably need, some of those problems should be put before the high schools roof.
Vince • Feb 7, 2022 at 11:45 am
$2.71 Mil is a lot for reparations of a new roof. I also feel like there a lot of other things not only in our school but even the Junior High and elementary schools that need repairs too. It sounds like it’s a money pit to me.
Rhys • Feb 6, 2022 at 10:12 pm
PV needs to find a way to generate enough money to repair the roof and pipes because water can lead to serious damages and if they don’t fix them now it will get worse.
Joel lawlor • Feb 4, 2022 at 10:34 am
Is PV able to afford a renovation that would cost 2.71 million dollars to replace the entire roof? If not how would they fund it?