PILSEN— The roof of the bridge at Benito Juarez Community Academy blew off on Monday night, and now CPS is taking heat for it.
A video posted on Twitter Tuesday shows debris around the annex at Juarez, 1450 W. Cermak Rd., where part of the roof apparently blew off during Monday night's strong wind storm.
The roof of the bridge at Juarez HS- part of a 2010 bldg project- blew off last night. @PilsenAlliance @ILRaiseYourHand pic.twitter.com/N9MPILf73r
— Jennie Biggs (@jenmcbiggs) March 7, 2017
Debris, including large wood boards, scattered the walkways near the school Tuesday. Steve Vidal, a visual arts educator and teacher at the school, shared photos of the destruction. Vidal pointed out that the badly damaged annex was just 10 years old.
"Bad workmanship," he wrote on Facebook. "Contractors hired by CPS to build our annex apparently didn't do the job right. Our classrooms on the 'new' bridge were flooded."
The overnight storm damaged the elevated walkway connecting the two buildings at Juarez High School, confirmed Michael Passman, a CPS spokesman.
"The walkway is being assessed, and the school has temporarily relocated affected classrooms to ensure instruction is not interrupted," he said.
A small number of classrooms are located in the elevated walkway and a small number of classrooms are located in the annex.
The walkway will be closed to students and staff until the walkway is fully assessed and necessary repairs are made, CPS officials said in a statement.
Vidal told the Sun-Times that the annex has been damaged for months. Parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand also criticized CPS about how quickly the annex deteriorated on Twitter Tuesday morning:
Juarez addition built in 2010. Why are roofs already collapsing? 3 yo Jones annex also needed major repairs last yr. @ChiPubSchools pic.twitter.com/QRSIRvDRHq
— Raise Your Hand (@ILRaiseYourHand) March 7, 2017
