The district said the normal process for procuring services would take too long, putting its property at risk and limiting school programs.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Brad Earl said Tuesday's emergency declaration allows the district to accelerate the timeline to award public contracts for work on the gym.
"We鈥檝e identified the emergency phase in working with our insurance company as the point at which we can stabilize the building, which we believe would include some demolition and making sure that the walls are shored up enough that it becomes safe," he said.
Once the building is stabilized, the district will return to the normal process.
District leaders haven鈥檛 confirmed the reason the roof collapsed, and an engineer鈥檚 assessment will be performed once it鈥檚 safe. However, the roof is estimated to have been carrying almost 700,000 pounds of snow.
The gym roof was constructed in 1965 and underwent seismic upgrades in summer 2024, which the district said reduced its load.
Board member Jeff Kinsella supported the measure on Tuesday.
"I just feel like the walls and things need to be shored up as quickly as possible for safety measures, so the sooner this gets done, the better," he said.
All board members who were present at the meeting voted in favor of the resolution, except Michael Williams, who abstained because he wanted to hear public comment on the measure.
The district doesn鈥檛 have an estimate of how much this work will cost or when it will be completed, but the plan is to rebuild the gym.
District officials plan to next meet with their insurance company on Mar. 1.
