Brentwood School students relocated after ceiling collapse

Students at a northwest Calgary school have been relocated to five different facilities for the rest of the school year after a hallway ceiling collapsed last week.

Parents of students at Brentwood School were thanked for their patience in an announcement Thursday, where school officials said the repairs would require long-term work which it says will run for multiple months.

They added that arrangements have been made with five northwest schools to receive 738 students, explaining that the large student population had to be spread over multiple locations to accommodate all classes and student learning.

Brentwood School students will be learning in a “school within a school” model, officials explained; students stay together with their regular teachers and follow their regular schedule in a host school.

The Calgary Board of Education said this isn’t a new concept for the division, explaining in a message to parents that this model is used “when factors outside our control affect access to a school building.”

The changes come after a part of the suspended ceiling in the school’s hallway became detached on May 8, prompting class cancellations for the next day while a plan of action was decided. Students were moved to online learning the following week, before returning to in-person instruction at the host schools on Monday.

Brentwood School leaders said no one was in the hallway at the time the incident occurred.