Panels in Harrison School gym repaired

HARRISON — Elementary School students are once again using the gymnasium/lunchroom after a large wall soundproofing panel fell and struck a student last week.

"Inspections have all been done and corrective action is finished," Oxford Hills School District Superintendent Mark Eastman said Wednesday of the work that school officials have done to reinforce the panels and inspect similar panels throughout the district.

Last week a student received what officials described as "minor" injuries when he was struck by a falling wall panel while attending an after-school program in the gymnasium. According to a notice to parents from Principal Kim Ramharter, the wall panel came loose and fell "without any provocation."

"I can only describe it as a freak accident," Eastman said.

Eastman said the approximate 4- by 4-foot Tactum panels were installed in the mid-1980s  and weigh about 40 pounds. The use of the soundproofing panels has been common practice during the last 30 years, Eastman said he was told by the school's engineers, Harriman Architects & Engineers of Auburn and Portland.

Eastman said that the installation of the panels, which are in most of the Oxford Hills School District schools in various sizes and configurations, was done in various ways. Most are encapsulated so they can not fall out despite any movement.

In the case of the Harrison Elementary School, movement from activity on the gymnasium floor over the years apparently caused the panels to move and the edges to fray.

"It's not noticeable from the ground," Eastman said of the damage being caused.

Ramharter said in her letter to parents that at about 3:20 p.m., children in the after-school program Haki-sacc, were sitting on the bleachers getting ready for a snack when a panel fell. She said the boy was "alright" but will "undoubtedly be sore." He returned to school the next day, Eastman said.

Ramharter said an inspector was at the school within 30 minutes, and the school's engineering firm designed a way to reinforce the panels and the school maintenance staff did the work.

Eastman said he has contacted Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron with a request that she advise other school districts to do an analysis of their Tactum panels.

Dan Robbins, head of Harriman's architectural studio, who has been in the business for 35 years, said he is not surprised to hear about the incident.

"I have seen a lot of them loose," Robbins said. Without knowing the specifics of the Harrison Elementary School case, Robbins said he could not comment on that situation but what he has observed over the years is that problems may happen depending on how the wood fiber panels are installed.

The panels are installed in various ways, including with screws and bolts or simply adhesive, which can dry out over the years.

"We've seen contractors just screw them to a layer of drywall with nothing to hold them on," Robbins said of the panels that can fall from their own weight if improperly installed.

While work was done to reinforce the panels at the Harrison Elementary School, the children have been eating breakfast and lunch in their classrooms, Ramharter said.

ldixon@sunjournal.com