Roof of Milwaukee Jewish Day School Collapses One Week Before Classes Begin
Collapsed roof at Milwaukee Jewish Day School Image by WISN 12 News / Youtube
(JTA) — The roof of the Milwaukee Jewish Day school collapsed, sending steel beams and debris crashing down into a classroom, a week before the start of school.
Two staff members were in the classroom on Friday preparing for the start of school, but left when they heard creaking noises, according to local reports.
Moments after the staff members left the room to call security and building maintenance about the noises the roof came crashing down.
“The entire ceiling just came down. So much so that even some people in the basement could hear and feel the shake of the boom,” Dan Tyk of the North Shore Fire Department told local news station Fox6. “Anybody who had been under that would have suffered severe injury or potentially been killed.”
It is not known what caused the roof to give way and collapse.
The Milwaukee Jewish Federation said, in part, in a statement: “The safety of the children, their families, and the staff who use this building are, as always, our priority. Currently school is not in session, and no one was in the classroom at the time. The Fire Marshall and Building Inspector from the Village of Fox Point have inspected the building. The affected area will remain unoccupied until a structural engineer has evaluated it.”
Earlier in the week, two Milwaukee-area synagogues called police to investigate suspicious packages. They were found to be harmless, but one of the synagogues also received a threatening phone call.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
