At around noon on Jan. 28, minor leaks due to snow and ice melt were discovered in Steelville Elementary School. The entryway to the school was the main area affected, with minimal leaks occurring inside one of the classrooms.

“We were fortunate that our custodians were on top of it, saw the drip start, got some trash cans placed under them, and the ceiling tiles pulled out,” Superintendent Steven Vetter said. “So there wasn’t any significant damage or loss to anything, just inconvenient as can be, but I think everybody jumped on it.”

The leakage was caused by melting ice in the building’s gutters. The front of the gutter sits higher than the bottom edge of the roof, which Vetter said is causing the runoff to back up under the edge of the roof instead of draining. Because there is an older roof structure in between the new roof and the interior, the water collects there and then seeps inside the building.

Maintenance was able to remove the ice from the gutters and get the water flowing properly again. To prevent future issues, the district is looking at replacing the gutter with one that would be installed about an inch lower. This will allow melting snow and ice to drain properly.

According to Vetter, it’s unclear whether the district’s insurance will cover the cost of replacing the gutter because the original gutter appears to have been installed incorrectly. He said the district is still waiting to hear back from the insurance company.

Vetter does not anticipate the leaks having any impact on students.

“We’ve got some fans blowing, just to kind of dry out anything that we haven’t been able to see that might be up underneath something in the roof,” Vetter said. “But for the most part, everything’s stopped dripping at the moment and dried up.”