By Jennifer Edwards, Jennifer Mrozowski and Denise Smith Amos
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HYDE PARK - Digging too deep and close to the foundation, bad weather and a foundation flaw that apparently went undetected may have combined to cause the collapse of a Summit Country Day School building, a Cincinnati building official said Monday.

PHOTO GALLERY

Three stories in a 30- to 45-foot-wide section in the back of the main building that housed classrooms, a computer lab and the library fell Sunday morning, leaving part of a fourth floor and roof suspended overhead. The collapse forced the closure of the prestigious 114-year-old private Catholic school at least through Friday.

On any school day, hundreds of students and staff members would have used the section that crumbled into a pile of rubble.

Teachers estimated nearly 400 students - some as young as 3 years old - would have been reading, doing math lessons and tapping on computers in the building.

Stunned parents, alumni, students and staff came throughout the day Monday to see the damage and marvel that no one was hurt. School officials were developing contingency plans for the school's 1,100 students.

The damaged portion of the school was adjacent to the construction site of a new $11 million complex for the school's Lower School for Montessori and elementary-grade students.

Bill Langevin, director of the city's buildings and inspections department, in offering a preliminary assessment, said there was excavation too deep and close to the existing foundation. He said the foundation in the area where construction workers were excavating didn't run as deep as the foundation for the rest of the building.

"Without knowing how deep that foundation ran, and going on the assumption that it ran as deep as the rest of the building, you can see how, inadvertently, they could have created a problem," he said.

In addition, he said, cold rain Saturday probably caused the ground to freeze and thaw.

"That is a recipe for foundation problems, for sure," he said. "There were just a number of factors that contributed to the unfortunate incident. This is a unique situation because of all the factors involved."

The first priority will be to keep the top floor from collapsing.

"It could still collapse," he warned. "It's very dangerous right now. It's still making noise. Things are still creaking. Until they get that upper portion of the building stabilized or torn down, there could be more damage.''

The first, second and third floors collapsed Sunday, leaving part of the buckling fourth floor and roof hanging above. The basement suffered far less damage than the floors above, Langevin said, adding that the basement floor did not collapse.

Late Monday, school officials posted a notice on Summit's Web site (www.summitcds.org) saying they are "grateful for the miracle that no one was harmed" when the floors collapsed.

"We recognize that this is very concerning to all of our constituents," the posting reads. "We are working in cooperation with the city, the construction company, architects and other professionals in order to fully understand this event. We are working diligently to get our students back into the business of learning."

The statement also expresses appreciation for "the outpouring of support from schools, churches, businesses, civic organizations and individuals" across the area.

There has been no decision on when the school will reopen, said spokeswoman Jennifer Pierson.

Parents, teachers and students call it a miracle that no one was in the school at the time.

"My first thought was, 'Thank goodness we didn't have children there,' " said Montessori teacher Michele Kaegi, whose classroom was housed in the basement of the portion that collapsed.

Click here for a detailed look at the Summit Country Day collapse. (Enquirer graphics)

Friday was a normal day in her class, with 3- to 6-year-old students learning about the solar system, taking music lessons and doing addition and subtraction.

Teachers often come to school Saturday, too, she said, and the school had activities planned for Monday, despite the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

"As devastating as it is, there was no loss of life," Kaegi said. "We can rebuild the material things. In the realm of things, we're lucky."

An estimate on damages wasn't known Monday but was expected to be in the millions of dollars.

Coincidentally, a Hard Hat Campaign Kick-Off celebration had been scheduled for Wednesday in the school's cafeteria to thank volunteers and donors. The event was among five canceled Monday, including a Feb. 1 open house.

The school is in the midst of a campaign to raise $20 million for Summit's endowment goals and its master campus plan. As part of that, a new Lower School facility is being constructed at a projected cost of $11 million.

While the construction was ongoing, the Upper School housed Montessori preschool and kindergarten-age children in temporary classrooms in the basement.

The section also held a computer lab on the first floor; an office and part of the library with computers on the second floor; an arts lab and a language lab on the third floor; and business and development offices, including college counseling, payroll, PR and human resources, on the fourth floor, according to Scott Cagle, technology coordinator for the school.

The contractor for the project, Turner Construction Co., downtown, and the school have hired a team of engineers to investigate the collapse's cause. School and Turner officials, city inspectors, architects and engineers met Monday.

Turner Construction Co. officials said Summit officials have instructed them that all comments on the project and collapse must come from the school. Officials with the architecture firm on the project didn't have much to add.

"Nobody knows for sure," said Dave Welsh, treasurer at Voorhis Slone Welsh & Crossland Architects, Inc. of Mason. "Everyone is working down there to find a solution and get them back in school."

A Summit staff meeting was scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the Hyde Park Golf & Country Club on Erie Avenue.

Many parents or alumni came to see the damages for themselves.

"I had to see it to believe it," said Brent Gambill, 50, of Anderson Township as he looked up at the damage from a side street, squeezing his daughters' hands. "It's so amazing. I'm glad you guys weren't in there."

"Daddy, look at the roof!" said daughter Kylie, 7, pointing. "It's sort of bending."

Many students worried that academic records, college application information and portfolios (including artwork) were lost. Colleges have been notified that seventh-semester grades will be delayed.

"Getting the grades to the schools is a top priority for the college office," school officials say.

One student, Abbey Broerman, a senior, was able to identify a ceramic art teapot she once made amid the rubble.

Two alumnae came to the scene Monday with their children in tow.

Kathy Wagner, who has a son and daughter at Summit, said: "This is such an old school but it's got so much charm, so much life."

Amid the devastation, many were optimistic the school would be rebuilt.

"It's just sad to see this part of history crumble," said alumna Julie Heine Bleh of Indian Hill. "I am sure Summit will triumph."

Quotes

"It's pretty scary. The first thing I thought was that there is a God... The Summit does not stand on the building alone. It's the community that's there. We will get through all of this." --Kathryn Harsh, a parent of 3-year-old Maggie, a Montessori student at Summit. Her daughter's classroom is in an undamaged part of the building.

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"I had the same thought as everyone else: Thank God no kids were in the building."--Ranee Messina, a Montgomery resident and Summit parent

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"My first thought was 'Thank Goodness it was a Sunday.' We were glad the school was not in session. It would've been devastating." --Donna Walker, East Walnut Hills resident whose daughter Jamie, 14, graduated from eighth grade at Summit last year and went to the school Friday to visit a friend. Jamie now attends St. Ursula Academy.

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"We are all really attached to Summit and the building. But it's a wonderful community. Everyone feels God had a hand in this. On any given day there's someone in the building." --Sharon Williams Frisbie, a 1969 alum whose daughter, Machaela Frisbie, is a junior.

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"We will find out what happened in the first place and we will get it fixed and get the kids back in school. It's a special place." --Tom Powers of Hyde Park, a 1977 graduate who is an assistant athletic director and coaches middle school football and basketball.

--Compiled by Jennifer Mrozowski, Denise Smith Amos and Jennifer Edwards.

Summit Country Day School

Founded: 1890.

Order: The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Type: Independent, co-educational Roman Catholic day school.

Divisions: Montessori, Primary, Middle and Upper.

Location: 2161 Grandin Road, Hyde Park.

Campus: 23 acres, with a separate 16-acre athletic complex.

Grades: Montessori pre-school-grade 12.

Enrollment: 1,170.

Student population: 60 percent Catholic; 40 percent non-Catholic; 15 percent minority.

Tuition: Ranges from $4,260 for part-time Montessori to $11,520 for grades 9-12.

Alumni facts: 3,215 active alumni, 109 parents are alumni, 11 faculty and staff are alumni.

Faculty: 139; 65 percent have graduate degrees.

Student-teacher ratio: 1 to 10.

Class of 2003: 88 graduates; 100 percent went to college.

Summit resuming sports activity

Summit Country Day will resume its sports activities this week despite the school being closed because of structural damage to the building.

The school has set up an information line for athletes, parents and fans. Call 272-6550 for information.

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E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com; jmrozowski@enquirer.com; damos@enquirer.com.