Chaska school district mourns maintenance worker after fatal accident
CHASKA, Minn. (KMSP) - A Chaska, Minnesota school district is mourning after one of their employees died while working at Chaska Middle School East Monday morning.
Buildings and grounds employee Daniel Buesgens fell off a ladder while working in the maintenance room of the Athletic Center, Principal Beth Holm said in a letter.
"This is a very sad and tragic matter for our school district. People in our building saw and heard emergency vehicles as they arrived at the scene of the accident," Holm wrote.
According to the principal, the new athletic center is located just outside the school building, and it is used for physical education classes. Once the community learned of Buesgens' death, they decided to cancel classes inside the athletic center for the rest of the day.
Buesgens was part of the district-wide grounds crew and did not work out of Chaska Middle School East, so he was not familiar to the students.
Letter from Principal Beth Holm
Chaska Middle School East Families,
I want to make you aware of a sad occurrence in our district today.
This morning, buildings and grounds employee Daniel Buesgens, died while working in the maintenance room of the Athletic Center. It appears he fell off a ladder. This is a very sad and tragic matter for our school district. People in our building saw and heard emergency vehicles as they arrived at the scene of the accident.
The new, domed Athletic Center is located just outside our school building and our students use the facility for physical education classes during the school day. Once we learned that Mr. Buesgens had passed away and police might be at the athletic center throughout the day, we decided to cancel classes inside the dome for the rest of the day. The accident happened in the athletic center’s maintenance room, which students never access for any reason. If students saw anything, it was only the vehicles of first responders.
Mr. Buesgens was part of the district-wide grounds crew. He did not work out of Chaska Middle School East, so he was not familiar to our students. Nevertheless, this is a very sad day for Mr. Buesgens’ friends and colleagues in the district, and especially his family. We are deeply sorry for their loss.
We are sorry to have to share this news with you today. Students may be talking about it and we want you to have as much information as we can provide. We have not notified students of this news during the school day today, please feel free to talk as a family this evening.
Please keep Mr. Buesgens’ family in your thoughts.
Statement from Eastern Carver County Schools
Today, Daniel (Danny) Buesgens, a buildings and grounds employee for Eastern Carver County Schools, died while working at the Athletic Center. He was in the maintenance room this morning and it appears he fell off a ladder. This is a difficult day for our district, especially for our buildings and grounds workers who knew and worked with Danny. We will provide additional counseling services for Danny’s friends and colleagues in the district.
Danny was hired in 2015 and worked at Chaska High School as a custodian and groundskeeper. In October 2016 he took a position as a district-wide groundskeeper and ice arena attendant, working out of Chanhassen High School. He was 51 years old and a resident of St. Bonifacius.
This matter is being investigated by Chaska Police and we have informed the local contacts for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Our sympathy is with Danny’s family, this is a tragic day for them and we are deeply sorry for their loss.
Brett Johnson, APR
Director of Communications and Community Relations