High winds cause school windows to shatter Ocean Twp. School uses CodeRED system to alert parents of incident BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer OCEAN TOWNSHIP - Two physical education classes at the Ocean Township Elementary School were interrupted last week when high winds caused two windows in the school's gymnasium to be blown out and crash into the gym. No one was injured from the shattered glass, and students and staff were evacuated from the gym, according to Ocean Township Superintendent of Schools Thomas Pagano. District parents were notified of the incident immediately after it occurred Feb. 13 at approximately 9:50 a.m., Pagano said. "We launched a CodeRED alertmessage to all of the parents in the district," Pagano said, explaining that CodeRED is a system that sends a recordedmessage to listed telephone numbers within a designated area to alert or notify members in the community of an emergency or incident. District officials and engineers were on hand following the collapse to assess the building's damage and determine what the eventual cost of repairs will be, Pagano said. "The gym will be closed until it is repaired," Pagano said. Gym classes will be held in other parts of the building or outdoors until the repairs in the gym are completed, Pagano said. Ocean Township Elementary School Principal Dr. Doreen Ryan sent a letter home with students the same afternoon of the incident to explain the circumstances of the caved-in windows. "We've had experiences like this before, and the quicker you get the information out to parents, the less panic occurs," Pagano said. "Paul Buerck, [the physical education teacher in the gymnasium during the incident] responded to this situation the way we would hope all of our teachers would respond - in a composed and authoritative way - and he did what was necessary for the safety of our children," he said. "Ryan took measures to keep the gym isolated and keep people out of there," Pagano added. The windows in the gymnasium are some of the only windows remaining in the current school building from the school's original structure that was constructed in 1958, Pagano said. "The school's window units have just about all been replaced within the last five years, and all of [the units] were inspected following the collapse," Pagano said. Winds in the area were coming fromthe south at 13 mph with gusts reaching up to 23 mph on Feb. 13, Pagano said. "It's somewhat puzzling, because those winds aren't as high as we've experienced in the past," Pagano said. The section of the school, where the gymnasium is located, faces the Deal Test Site, a large open swath of land that causes high winds to regularly blow at the building, Pagano said.