Sometime between the end of school on Wednesday and the start of school on Thursday, the ceiling collapsed in the classroom of the 3rd grade at Bøverbru school in Vestre Toten municipality.
The destruction was discovered by the cleaning staff, says the municipality’s head of school, Ivar Michael Jahr.
– The school will be closed until the cause has been found and the rest of the building has been inspected, so we know it is safe to be there, says Jahr to TV 2.
He proudly boasts that it didn’t happen while there were students in the room.
– It had not gone well. So we’re very glad it happened at the time it did.
Oppland Arbeiderblad/Toten Idag discussed the case first.
– Could have been a disaster
Per Håkon Granum has a daughter in 3rd grade at school. He says that his daughter was traumatized by the incident.
– It looked more violent than I thought. The entire sulamite has fallen down, says Granum to TV 2.
He thinks it is scary to think about the outcome if the roof had collapsed with students in the classroom.
– It could have been a disaster. It’s terrifying, he says.
The family lives 100 meters away from the school, and also has a son in the 5th grade.
The daughter’s class was on an excursion on Thursday, but the son and the rest of the school were sent home.
– We had to throw ourselves around and drive home to the pod, says Granum.
Now he hopes there will be a clarification of what happened.
– The school is relatively well maintained and newly refurbished. I have no suspicions of non-compliance with maintenance or anything, he says.
MAJOR DAMAGE: There is major material damage in the classroom, and could have gone really wrong with people present. Photo: Vestre Toten municipality
– Shocking
Jonas Engevold’s son is also in the 3rd grade, and Engevold says he recognized his son’s classroom in the pictures.
– It was shocking, to be completely honest, says Engevold to TV 2.
Although fortunately it ended well, he says that it is easy to be affected by the incident.
– This could have had a dramatic outcome, so I am very happy that the pupils were not at school when it happened.
The headmaster at the school, Arne Døving Røstøen, says that it has been a highly unusual working day on Thursday.
– It is of course frightening for some students. We have sent out information to parents that it may have been frightening, and want to have a dialogue about it, says Røstøen to TV 2.
Checking other buildings
Headmaster Jahr says that the school will be closed indefinitely, but that there are plans for teaching and after-school activities outdoors and in nearby buildings.
He will not speculate on the cause of the collapse.
– There have been no indications in the past, and no known challenges with the building after it was rehabilitated a few years ago, he says.
– It seems that it has fallen suddenly, and not over time.
It is the ceiling that has fallen down – i.e. the interior ceiling.
Jahr says that other municipal buildings will also be investigated.
