DPS says both Dennis Lab School buildings are 'structurally compromised'

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Decatur Public Schools says both Dennis Lab School buildings are structurally compromised and will be closed until further notice.

DPS said students and staff will not be in the Dennis Lab School campuses for the 2023-2024 school year.

“Safety is our first priority. Although we do not have a timeline as to when these structural findings will be addressed or the cost associated with the findings, we do know Dennis Lab School students will not attend school this fall at the two sites," said Dr. Rochelle Clark, Superintendent of Decatur Public Schools.

DPS said it is looking into options for the Dennis school community with hopes of having recommendations for the DPS Board of Education to approve at its June 27 meeting, "if not sooner."

Dr. Clark said, "What we are doing at this time is digging deeper to find out what caused the structural compromise and what the next steps should be in order to remedy that."

Clark added that she met with staff in mid to late April. "They had some concerns about some of things they have seen. One of the examples would be when the band was playing or practicing my classroom shakes. So, I said let me look into that."

Clark added, "We are looking into alternative placement at this time. We have over 500 students to place. We are looking at current buildings to house them and give them the best educational support in the upcoming year."

President of the Board of Education Bill Clevenger commended Dr. Clark and her team for their efforts, saying, "I think we will all be able to work together to reach some kind of conclusion. Hopefully, there is a short-term fix and a long-term solution, and hopefully that is where we will head down the road is towards a long-term view. But right now our staff, led by Dr. Clark really has their hands full trying to be sure we provide a good educational environment for the students that are in 61, and you know Dennis School is near and dear to my heart. My kids went to Dennis School. So, we have an affinity for the West End and affinity for Dennis. So, we are really interested in seeing this through and seeing it resolved in a positive manner for the community."

To view structural evaluations of each building and recommendations by engineers, click https://engage.dps61.org/dennisfuture. There is also a timeline of events that led up to the findings, the latest Health Life Safety reviews for each building, Frequently Asked Questions, and planned next steps.