Dear Santiam Canyon Families and Community,

Thank you for your patience with today’s school cancellation as we worked through an unexpected issue on campus. I’d like to share a little more information about what happened.

Last night, the fire suppression system in Building A at SJSHS lost pressure, and water drained the system out of an exterior pipe along Cedar Street. This triggered the fire alarm and required us to temporarily shut off the main water supply to the SJSHS campus so that the alarm could be silenced. 

After the alarms were silenced, we contacted CJ Hansen, the company that services our fire suppression system. Initially, they were unable to confirm whether a technician could respond last night or this morning until about 9:45 p.m. Even then, we didn’t know if replacement parts would be needed. Because we could not guarantee the system would be fully operational in time for school, we made the decision to cancel today. Fortunately, a technician arrived around 10:30 p.m., identified the issue, restored water service, re-pressurized the system, and reset the alarms. No parts were needed, and everything is now functioning properly.

At this time, all fire alarm and suppression systems are fully operational.  Both SES and SJSHS will resume as normal tomorrow. We appreciate your understanding and support.

Thank you,
Ms. Nieraeth
Superintendent