15
By Dr. Nettie Collins-Hart
Superintendent
Proviso Township District 209
It was a call that school
administrators fear getting.
On Saturday, May 10, I
received a call from the
principal at Proviso East High
School at about 9:15 p.m. that the building was on
fire. In what later was determined to be caused by an
electrical issue, an office was on fire, sending smoke
into the classrooms and science laboratories above it
and the hallways and rooms underneath it as well as
into the auditorium, where a play was in progress.
While no one was hurt and the fire was brought under
control within a couple of hours, there was substantial
damage to about 45 classrooms, washrooms, and
offices.
The first order of business, after securing the
building, was getting the word out to the Board of
Education, parents, teachers, staff, and the
community about what progress was being made on
reopening the school, especially with many of them
having seen the reports on the fire on the local news.
Working with our community and public relations
coordinator, Rob Daniel, we kept our district website
(pths209.org) and our Twitter feed updated with
regular reports in the hours immediately after the
news first broke. We also responded to inquiries from
area media, and sent out emails to teachers and staff
with updates. In addition, I responded to emails from
other superintendents who offered support and other
assistance.
We then had to determine whether we would be
able to open for classes on Monday.
On Sunday, which was Mother’s Day, I surveyed
the damage and assessed if we could still hold
classes. That assessment led us to cancel classes
for the next two days, with hopes of returning on the
following Wednesday. We communicated this within
an hour of the decision being made. In addition, we
sent robocalls to parents informing of the decisions to
close and later reopen school.
During the next two days, we had workers from
construction companies sealing off the damaged
portion of the building while the building
administrative team worked to determine where to
hold the displaced classes. Eventually, a plan was
developed, with classes moved to gymnasiums, our
Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
(NJROTC) building, and other locations around the
Proviso East campus. Also, since our regular bus
drop-off and pick-up point was in the damaged area,
we moved our buses further down Madison Street to
have the students enter and exit the campus through
our football stadium gate. We also put in a claim with
insurance for the repairs to get the building usable
again.
This quick reaction and subsequent work to move
forward from what could have been a disastrous
situation to one where we were able to successfully
complete our school year would not have been
possible without the work of the administration,
faculty, and staff at Proviso East High School and in
District 209 as a whole. I wish to thank them for their
due diligence, and for a job well done.
Proviso administrators step
up to handle the heat after fire
Students return to Proviso East High School two days after a fire caused damage and closed school.
