Under 5 1/2 feet of snow, the roof of Lakeside High School in Ashtabula County gave way and partially collapsed over the weekend. The damage can be seen even more clearly from the inside: photos from the school district show that it is not a simple repair, but rather a comprehensive reconstruction.

“We feel blessed that no one was injured,” Scott Yopp, president of the Ashtabula Area City Schools Board, said Tuesday. There was no one in the building at the time of the collapse.

Due to continued inclement weather, all schools in the district will remain closed for the remainder of the week, but Lakeside High will remain closed for several weeks – if not longer – as crews work to repair the roof. The question is also raised as to whether the ceiling structure was properly built to withstand the load of the snow masses.

As 3News Investigates noted to Yopp, other buildings in Saybrook Township and around Ashtabula endured 5 1/2 feet of snow, but their roofs did not collapse. Asked if that worried him about Lakeside High’s safety, Yopp said, “Absolutely.”

Problems with the leaking, buckling roof began shortly after the school opened in 2006, which was built by the now-defunct Blaze Construction. Blaze CEO Ferris Kleem went to federal prison for bribery in the massive Cuyahoga County corruption scandal, which led to a 28-year sentence for former county commissioner Jimmy Dimora. Dimora’s sentence was later reduced and he is now in home confinement.

In 2011, the district sued Blaze Construction for defective workmanship. After a consultant told the school board it would cost $4 million to fix the problems, they settled on $3 million.

Seven years later, in 2018, collapse from another severe snowstorm cost Ashtabula Area City Schools another $70,000. The recent disaster has now made the building structurally dangerous.

“It’s not just a discussion about, ‘Is this good enough?’ Was it done right?’ “But now someone has to answer,” Yopp noted.

For now, the priority is figuring out where to house about 1,000 students and staff in other off-campus classrooms, a difficult reality that will shape the rest of the school year.

“I hope that people understand, especially at this time of year, that it’s not going to be a perfect solution,” Yopp said. “We’re really going to turn a lot of people’s lives upside down.”

Engineers will also check the district’s other school buildings for possible snow damage. Officials say Lakeside Junior High, which was built across the street from the high school by another company, appears to be in good working order.