ASHTABULA COUNTY, Ohio — There are cubbies in the classroom, and many folding tables, and everything feels just a little smaller for Lakeside High School students now learning inside the Huron Primary School.
Right after Thanksgiving, the high school’s roof collapsed under more than five feet of snow. This forced the district to move its students to four different buildings across the area as they returned to in-person learning this week.
RELATED: Unknown when classes will resume at Lakeside High School after roof collapse
Principal Douglas Wetherholt told News 5 that the district repainted the hallways and removed as many markers as possible to make the former elementary school look like a high school.
“We’ve come a long way in just a month changing the building and trying to replicate as much of the old building as possible,” he said.
And then there’s sports and extracurriculars.
“Athletics is a little tricky right now,” Superintendent Lisa Newsome said. “Is this a situation we want to be dealing with? Absolutely not. But we have to.”
She detailed how most “home” games will now be played at the opponents’ facilities and thanked other nearby schools and facilities for providing space for practices.
Newsome said insurance is still assessing the damage to the Lakeside High School building, but restoration crews have begun removing several pieces of the roof.
Newsome said she expects restoration to cost at least $25 million.
This is not the first problem with this 17-year-old building.
Back in 2011, the school district sued the original builders, the now defunct Blaze Construction, over poor workmanship and a roof that leaked almost immediately. That case settled with the district receiving about $3 million, Newsome said.
For Newsome, there’s hope for some normalcy as soon as next year.
“Dream case scenario, I’d like to be back in the athletic part of the building: gym and bedroom sometime next year,” Superintendent Newsome said. “Realistically, I understand the severity of the entire academic wing and roof that’s completely not there.”
