A public school library and classroom are severely damaged and charges are pending against a 17-year-old driver after a minivan crashed into a school in Goderich, Ont., but a spokesperson for the school board says “it could have been so much worse.”
Cheri Carter, Avon Maitland District School Board superintendent of corporate services, says the crash at Goderich Public School took out a brick wall, destroyed the learning commons room and toppled a classroom wall but the building was empty at the time.
“It could have been so much worse. It could have been during the day after 7 a.m., when we have custodians in the building. It could have been at the other end of the building (where a child-care provider operates). The driver could have had more injury. It could have been a lot worse.”
Provincial police say the crash happened just before 6 a.m. Monday and that the minivan crashed through a brick wall on the east side of the school on Blake Street West in Goderich.
The minivan went through the wall and all the way through the school’s learning commons room, or library, and came to rest after crashing through an interior wall joining the library and a classroom.
The driver, a 17-year-old, was taken to hospital by paramedics and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police say. Charges are pending and the investigation is ongoing.
Police say “repairs to the school are being arranged.” It was not immediately clear how much it would cost to repair the damages nor how long it would take to do so.
Carter says firefighters had to knock a bigger hole in the wall in order to remove the vehicle and the post that can be seen in photos is actually part of a doorframe.
“Our main priority right now is securing the building, making sure that it’s secure and safe and all of those types of things. And then we’re working with our insurance carrier to figure out our next steps in terms of repair.”
Carter says she expects that the school will be repaired in time for the start of the school year in September and that the child-care services at the building should not be impacted.