Montclair School Lockers Collapse, Injure Student

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A section of metal lockers detached from a wall at an Essex County school and toppled over while classes were in session last week, injuring a student and sending them to the hospital, administrators say.

The incident took place at Hillside School in Montclair on Friday and involved a section of attached, surface-mounted locker, Interim Superintendent Barbara Pinsak stated during the Montclair Board of Education meeting on Sept. 18.

The section of locker fell during a “class transition time,” injuring and hospitalizing a student, Pinsak said.

“We’re hoping everything is fine,” Pinsak later told a NorthJersey.com reporter. She declined to comment further about the student’s condition due to medical privacy laws.

According to Pinsak, the school’s building and grounds supervisor immediately assessed every locker in the building after the collapse. Over the weekend, workers replaced anchors and fasteners in all similar lockers throughout the building, and installed L-brackets to provide extra support.

School staff also performed a “thorough” check of the doors and frames for every recessed locker in the building, Pinsak said.

Administrators are carrying out a locker inspection in other schools throughout the district. In the meanwhile, individual principals have been alerted about the issue, and future locker checks are on the horizon, Pinsak said.

Watch a video from the Sept. 18 Montclair Board of Education meeting below. Pinsak’s comments about the locker incident begins around the 14:45- minute mark. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page here.

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File Photo (not the section of locker that fell): Flickr Commons