Officials: Westfield school employee built stage that collapsed

Westfield police and school officials on Tuesday morning blamed last month's dramatic stage collapse at the high school on a school employee acting on his own.

Superintendent Mark Keen and Westfield Police Capt. Charles Hollowell said auditorium director Quinten James removed large, steel support beams from beneath the orchestra pit cover in order to create more room for students.

James also designed, bought materials and built a new cover for the orchestra pit in January. James, though, attached the cover to decorative trim surrounding the pit that was not designed as a support structure.

The Hamilton County prosecutor's office declined to press criminal charges, saying the faulty construction did not rise to the level of criminal culpability.

The school district, though, now will begin its own investigation that could result in disciplinary action for James and any other employees involved. Keen wouldn't say what that action would be, at this point, but sounded as if he expected action to be taken.

"I've been around for a while, and I have seen avoiding responsibility and avoiding appropriate actions to be the wrong thing (to do), so we are going to do what we think is the right thing. Our parents deserve that, and the students involved deserve that. ... We want to make sure that this never happens again."

James has not been suspended. He is a part-time employee, though, and is not working because the auditorium remains closed to performances pending the reconstruction of the original stage cover. James could not be reached on his cellphone.

Keen also knows the district could face civil penalties. No tort claims have been filed, but Keen acknowledged the district expects civil cases might be filed now that the criminal investigation is concluded.

The students were exuberantly dancing and singing "Don't Stop Believin'," the final act to a year-end show on April 23, when the stage below them collapsed, sending dozens plunging into the orchestra pit.

In all, 17 students were injured. All but one has returned to class. None of the injuries was life-threatening, though Keen said some were serious. Keen said all appear to be progressing well with their recoveries.

Andrew Klein, dean of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, said it's quite possible that victims will file tort claims against the school district and James.

"My first instinct is that the school district would face a claim of vicarious liability," Klein said, "that the individual was acting within the scope of his employment in working on the stage. If that's the case, then the school district would be liable for what the individual did."

Keen said the district has been waiting to interview employees until the police concluded their investigation.

At this point, Keen said it's clear that James filed no work orders and sought no official permission to create a new cover. Keen was unsure whether any other school employees knew James had modified the stage or asked him to do so.

He said students helped with the installation.

"Our maintenance department was not involved with anything with the stage cover that collapsed during this event," Keen said.

Since 1997, he said, 2,800 events had been held on the regular stage pit cover with no problems.

Keen said the stage's manufacturer would help reinstall the stage cover and review installation procedures with the maintenance department. Keen will require district officials to sign off any time the stage is used and any time a modification of the stage is proposed. He also said the stage would be inspected regularly.

He's not sure when the auditorium will reopen.

Star reporters Madeline Buckley and John Russell contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Chris Sikich at (317) 444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich .