Updated 12/12: Administration reported at about 10 a.m. today that the D-wing elevator has passed state inspection and is now in service.

Updated 12/4:  Principal Dan Donovan reports that the D-wing elevator is still out of service because it can’t pass state inspection. He reports that the elevator’s original technology, from the 1960s, can’t communicate with contemporary technology. Inspectors were on site last week, testing the elevator and that’s why the fire alarms kept sounding. It’s not clear when the problem will be solved and students needing the elevator remain in the Library Learning Commons to do their work.

Sophomore Jennifer Roos, who has recently been recovering from knee surgery, says that the broken elevator situation in the D-building has “made a bunch of [her] grades go down” due to spending her school days on her own in the library.

The issue with the elevators began “when the fire alarm [started], the elevator [was] supposed to shut down [but didn’t],” says Principal Dan Donovan. More specifically, there was an old smoke detector in the D-building that was not working in correspondence with the building elevator.

However, Donovan cannot stress enough that the elevators “are safe and work. They just don’t align with the fire alarms so they had to be rewired.” Until then, the elevator continues to be “out-of-service.” The C-wing elevator had the same issue, but was fixed quickly.

Students requiring elevator use in the D wing have been reporting to the library rather than their regular classrooms. Though they have missed valuable class time, the expectation is that the students must receive and return all assignments.

Senior Pablo Gulart says that although he cannot get into some of his classes, he is still “getting [his] work from [his] teachers” and “emailing [his] teachers” or asking others for help.

Similarly, sophomore Austin Harrighi says that he “can seem to get [his] work done on [his] own” just fine.

On the other hand, like Roos, sophomore Samantha Santos has been struggling to understand her work outside of the classroom. Without the teacher’s assistance that she needs, Santos shares that she is getting her work “but it doesn’t help when [she doesn’t] understand all of the information.”

Not only are students struggling due to the elevator situation in D-building, but so are many staff members, including school nurses and English teachers.

English teacher Justin Hitchcock said that he has not yet received his Chromebooks due to the elevator malfunction. “[My] Khan Academy [plans] have being pushed back,” he says, reflecting the problem plaguing many other teachers. The school recently bought through a grant Chromebooks and carts for all English teachers. The elevator is needed to get the Chromecarts to the classrooms.

In addition, school nurses Meghan Gabriel, Megan Kilcourse, and Cathy Blair hope to see the elevators fixed quickly.

“If someone were to be injured in the gym, the golf cart would have to come around to the front of the building,” says Gabriel. Fortunately, no injuries thus far have called for this measure, but nevertheless, the malfunction poses a hindrance.

Donovan says that the elevators are “supposed to be finished by the end of this week.” He is not quite sure what that may entail, or if the crew working on the elevators will be finished by the time it said, but can only expect what he has been told.