Halifax schools closed because of leaks

Several Halifax-area schools were closed Tuesday because of water leaks and many will remain shut for at least another day. 

Students at the Spryfield high school JL Ilsley are concerned that leaks have closed their school for at least three days.

The school was closed on Monday and Tuesday and the Halifax Regional School Board says the school will stay closed on Wednesday. The board will say Wednesday evening if the school will be able to re-open Thursday. 

Four other Halifax-area schools were closed due to leaks Tuesday: Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea, St. Catherines Elementary, Humber Park Elementary, and Astral Drive Junior High. 

Beechville-Lakeside-Timberlea will remain closed until the end of the week. Water poured in through the roof and damaged the top floor and parts of the next floor down. St. Catherines will also be closed all week. 

Astral and JL Ilsley will be closed Wednesday and will decide then when they'll open. 

Humber Park will be open Wednesday. 

Long-term leaks

J.L. Ilsley students say their roof problems date back earlier than this winter. 

"It was more frustrating to hear of other schools being closed down for their roofs not working, but ours never works," said Allison Hearns, a Grade 12 student. 

Students say they have had problems with drips and wet, falling ceiling tiles. 

"In some classes there are buckets around the classroom with water dripping in them," said Jeremy Scallion, a Grade 11 student. 

Miranda Young, a Grade 10 student, began an online petition on change.org asking for faster repairs. 

"I think that it's very important that the school is a safe place, a safe learning environment. I started the petition to raise awareness for it." 

Slow work

The provincial government marked down $1 million for the project, which started in September 2014. The original end date was before Christmas. But the project ran into a number of challenges, including roofers making noise, dust, and debris, which was disturbing classes. The school board shifted the roofers' schedule to after-hours, which pushed the project completion date into January. 

Weather has slowed work further. 

"The project is just continually being slowed down to the point now where we have to get the work done by the end of March, because the funding is contingent on being spent in this fiscal year, and it's going to be a real challenge to get that done in time," said Halifax Regional School Board spokesman Doug Hadley. 

During the last storm, water leaked into third-floor classrooms, causing significant damage to ceiling tiles. 

"There's still some work and clean up to be done before students return," Hadley said. "The ironic part of the roof issue currently is it's not the part of the roof that we've been working on."

Now the school board is faced with leaks in a second part of the roof. It is examining how those repairs will be paid for. 

"We appreciate that the public has been patient with us as we work our way through this. We have many, many schools that have experienced leaks," Hadley said. "It's been very challenging with the weather conditions being what they are."