Overnight Roof Collapse Discovered This Morning Sends Lockport Central Students Home

Students at Lockport Township’s central campus had to be evacuated on Thursday morning after part of a ceiling in a classroom collapsed. The incident occurred in a classroom on the third floor of the central campus building.  No injuries were reported, reports also state that there was no one in the classroom at the time of the incident. All central campus students were sent home for the day.

The underpinning of the plaster ceiling gave way in one of the classrooms, completely caving it in. The plaster is above the drop ceilings that the high school has installed. The plaster was over 2” thick and several inches of insulation and drywall are now on the floor with it.

The high school will be engaging structural engineers to do a full review of the other classrooms in the building to examine whether or not the ceilings in those rooms could potentially have the same issue.

Meanwhile, Lockport City Administrator Ben Benson released this statement to WJOL:

Blessed that this occurred over night and zero students were present.
Based on our Building Official’s review, the underpinning of the plaster ceiling gave way in one of the classrooms, completely caving it in.
The plaster is above the drop ceilings that the high school has.  We are blessed that this occurred overnight and not while school was in session.

The plaster was over 2” thick and several inches of insulation and drywall are now on the floor with it.

The LTHS is its own form of government not under jurisdiction of the municipality and has its own inspectors,
In IL, schools are not subject to City oversight for the buildings, but in this case, we are lending whatever knowledge we can.

However we are working with the Regional Office inspectors, the high school, Fire District and others.
Lockport PD is also on scene with our building inspectors

The high school will be engaging structural engineers to do a full review of the other classrooms in the building to examine whether or not the ceilings in those rooms could potentially have the same issue.

Lockport Township High School District 205 Statement from Thursday, November 2, 2023

Lockport, Ill.−This morning, a plaster ceiling in a third-floor classroom at Lockport
Central Campus collapsed overnight. No students or staff members were present when
the collapse occurred. There were no injuries. When staff members and building
administrators became aware of this collapse, Lockport Township High School District
205 immediately began to take steps to ensure student and staff safety.
After an initial assessment of the situation with Homer Township and Lockport Township
Fire Departments and the City of Lockport Building Inspector, we dismissed students
from school at Central Campus out of an abundance of caution. This is only for students
at Central Campus.

We are continuing to work with Fire Department officials, the City Building Inspector,
and the Lockport Police Department. Forensic engineers and DLA Architects are on site
to assess the total structure of every classroom and space in Lockport Central Campus.
We are also working with the Regional Office of Education to determine when we can
reoccupy the building. We will not do so until we are assured that every space is safe
for students and staff. We will update our community on plans moving forward as soon
as we have more information.
As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority.

Robert McBride, Ed.D
Superintendent, Lockport Township High School District 205
1323 East Seventh Street
Lockport, IL 60441
815.588.8105