KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kids were evacuated from a daycare Thursday morning after concerns about the safety of the roof. An employee noticed the ceiling sagging near a support beam around 8:50 a.m., so firefighters helped evacuate 118 kids and about 30 staffers from the St Luke’s Daycare.
The daycare will remain closed on Friday and hoped to be reopened by Monday. Parents were being made aware of the closure on Thursday afternoon.
Laurel Gifford with St Luke’s Hospital said the daycare got the kids, infants to age 5, out of the building right away and then started moving all the cribs and other items to the temporary daycare location.
Parent Alisha Shull dropped off 18 month old Zach in the morning as all of this was going on.
“I know buildings around the city have had their roofs collapse, so that’s scary,” she said, “so as long as they take measures to remove the weight and clear the snow, I don’t see why it would be a problem.”
St Luke’s said the kids handled the situation very well, they were calm and even singing on the bus on the way to the temporary daycare at The Children’s Spot, just a couple miles away.
“They think they’re having a field trip, they’re excited,” said Gifford, “they had a ride on the city bus, so they’re great and we started notifying parents there’s nothing to worry about.”
St Luke’s staff were working to remove the snow from the roof and a structural engineer will inspect the building before any kids come back.
“Nothing is more important than making sure the child care center is safe and secure,” said Gifford, “so we’ll be evaluating that but all initial evaluations are it’s just getting weight off and the building should be structurally secure.”
