Rain Storm Floats New Problem At Hawley And Old Problems At NMS

By Eliza Hallabeck

After rain dumped between two and three inches of water on Newtown between Sunday and Monday, March 6 and 7, most of Newtown’s public schools were left with few, if any, reminders of the weather. For Hawley Elementary School and Newtown Middle School, however, there was some work to do in the aftermath.

For Hawley School, Facilities Director Gino Faiella said a groundwater swell caused water to come up into a boiler room and eventually into the school’s Mary Hawley Café. About four inches of water went into the café, which was closed for the week to accommodate a cleanup. Mr Faiella said the café, where students are served lunch one grade level at a time, will reopen for students on Monday.

To prevent the situation from recurring, Mr Faiella said some precautions have been put in place at the school, such a sensor that will automatically notify a “phone tree” if a certain amount of water seeps into the boiler room area.

“We don’t want to take any chances,” said Mr Faiella.

At Newtown Middle School, where leaks have been occurring, Principal Diane Sherlock said with each subsequent rain the situation gets worse.

“We just can’t wait for our new roof,” said Ms Sherlock, speaking to the NMS roof project now before the Public Building and Site Commission and expected to begin work this summer if passed. “There’s just no way to predict when our next leak is coming.”

Ms Sherlock said one classroom, where rain was coming in, has been closed, water was in the library, the gym floor has suffered some warping, and water was coming through some of the lights at the school. Water continues to do more and more damage at the school, Ms Sherlock said.

Ms Sherlock also gave credit to NMS Head Custodian Don Roos for helping to fend off the water by coming up with a creative way to move water away of troublesome areas. Across the hallway from the school’s cafeteria, for example, water is diverted from a leak in the ceiling through tubing into a bucket. The tubing came from used vacuum cleaners, according to Mr Faiella and Mr Roos.

While Mr Faiella said leaks into the middle school are fixed often, areas continue to need work.

Some of the leaks in the school district have been self-inflicted, according to Mr Faiella. When snow was removed earlier in the school year, areas of the schools’ roofs were damaged. Two local snow removal vendors offered to fix the leaks that occurred where workers had removed snow, according to Mr Faiella. This has helped to keep the cost of dealing with the leaks down, Mr Faiella says.

While the exact cost is not yet known, Mr Faiella said, compared to the cost of removing snow, the cost of dealing with the weekend’s rainwater was minimal.