Shut Down After Partial Roof Collapse, James Rickards Middle School In Fort Lauderdale Set To Reopen

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) = Students, teachers, and staff will soon be able to return to James S. Rickards Middle School, which was forced to close last year due to a partial roof collapse.

At the Broward School Board meeting on Tuesday, it was announced that the school at 6000 NE 9th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale will reopen on Tuesday, January 18th.

The school was evacuated and subsequently shut down on March 5th, 2021 when the roof over the media center collapsed.

Due to the pandemic, there were under 200 students and 55 faculty members in the building.

At the time, Oakland Park Fire Rescue said the joists collapsed and there was a major water leak.

According to the school district, the media center was under construction at the time of the collapse and no one was in the room.

Fire rescue said while no one was hit by flying debris, seven students and five staff members complained of headaches and nausea from stress and dehydration. Five were taken to the hospital for observation.

Rickards was in the middle of a multi-million dollar renovation when the collapse happened.