Roland-Ppin flaws caused by builder: school officials

A contractor who built the high school in Campbellton40 years agois likely to blame for the school's closure this week, according to School District 5 officials.

Eloi Doucet, School District 5 spokesman, said Thursday that a contractor discovered the problem at cole Polyvalente Roland-Ppin in August, and a consultant was brought in to further investigate the structural integrity of the school.

That's when they discovered that the entire school built in 1970 hadn't been constructed according to the plans, he said.

Doucet said the building plans were fine, but the contractor didn't follow them.

"The more they worked, the more they found problems. At that time, [the Department of]Supply and Services appointed that consultant to study those schoolstructural parts to see exactly what was the problem," he said.

Now district officials are looking for space to accommodate the nearly 500 high school students because the school will close for the rest of the year.

"Grade 7 and 8 is a simple solution, there's cole Secondaire du Versant in Atholville.It will be receiving those students probably by the mid next week," Doucet said.

"In regards to students from Grade 9 to 12, there's approximately 250 students. That's a little more problematic. We are still working on that aspect of it."

A provicial government spokesperson said while a contractor flaw is a possibility, the department is still in the process of thoroughly investigating the school.

Now that the students are being moved, the department will be better able to do that.

Doucet said the departments of Education and Supply and Services will now look at options to repair the school.