10/24/2026
Good morning, Silver Schools families and community, I need to share an update regarding a natural gas leak discovered Friday evening after the football game at Silver High School and the work that has already taken place to address the situation.
Friday evening, New Mexico Gas Company responded to reports of a gas odor near our culinary arts building. During their investigation, technicians discovered that the more significant issue was not inside the building but involved an underground natural gas line outside the facility.
Using specialized detection equipment, technicians identified elevated concentrations of natural gas beneath the ground near the building. As a precaution, the gas supply was shut off to the school while technicians investigated and monitored the area. The buildings were subsequently cleared for occupancy by NM Gas, and the immediate safety concern was addressed.
I’m thankful to share that we’ve already made significant progress this morning. Our maintenance personnel, working with New Mexico Gas Company, were able to identify and separate the gas lines serving different portions of the high school campus. The main instructional buildings operate on a separate gas line from the one experiencing the leak. That system has now been tested, and natural gas service has been restored to the main campus. We’ve also confirmed that our main gymnasium is operational and unaffected by the secondary gas line shutdown. This is good news, particularly as we prepare for students to return Monday morning.
One additional consideration is heating. We have not yet transitioned all of our school facilities into the heating season, as daytime temperatures have remained relatively warm. However, the systems at the high school’s have switched over, and because the main service line is operating, there should be no change. Consequently, the temporary loss of natural gas service to some auxiliary areas is not currently expected to create an immediate heating concern. We will continue monitoring conditions as repairs progress.
So, what still needs to be done? The affected underground gas line serves several other portions of campus, including our culinary arts building, main “cafeteria”, and maintenance facilities. We’re also verifying whether the auxiliary gymnasium is connected to that system. That portion of the gas system will remain shut off until our maintenance team and licensed contractors can locate and isolate the damaged section, complete the necessary testing, and obtain the required NM State approvals to restore service.
Depending on what is discovered, those repairs could take several days. However, because the main instructional buildings have a separate gas supply, we do not currently anticipate that these repairs will prevent us from holding classes Monday. One area we’re already preparing for is student meals.
Our Silver High School cafeteria prepares meals for both Silver High School and La Plata Middle School. If natural gas service cannot be restored to the high school kitchen before Monday, our Student Nutrition Department is already developing a plan to prepare meals at Stout Elementary School and transport them to our campuses for serving. While this will require some additional coordination behind the scenes, our goal is to make sure students continue receiving their meals without interruption.
At this point, we are planning for a normal school day on Monday, October 26. I want to thank the students and staff who brought the gas odor to our attention, along with New Mexico Gas Company, our district maintenance personnel, and campus administration for their response. We’re certainly not finished with the repairs, but we’ve made important progress in identifying the problem, isolating the affected system, and restoring service to the main campus.
We’ll continue working through the weekend and will share additional information if there are any changes that could affect school operations.
Thank you for your patience and continued support of Silver Schools. 🙏🏾🙏🏾
Mr. Hawkins
