Smelly Problem Leads To Closure Of Tulsa Area School District

Tuesday, hundreds of students stayed home after Liberty Public Schools in Mounds had to cancel classes due to flooding.

But the problem goes beyond just rainwater. When school leaders arrived, they found sewage water flooding the entire elementary school.

The cancelation meant 7-year-old Cale could spend his day playing games and watching YouTube videos. He had just gotten to school Tuesday morning when his parents got a phone call from the district.

"My wife had actually just dropped him off, so we ran back up there and picked him up," Jesse Rector said.

All Liberty schools closed after the district's sewer pump broke down. The elementary flooded with sewage and had to be sealed off, and the other schools' bathrooms are backed up, too, as a result.

Superintendent Donna Campo said, "This morning we came in to an inch-and-a-half of water in the elementary. And we knew it was sewer because of the way it smelled."

That meant Cale's dad also had the day off. He had no choice since someone had to stay home with the second-grader.

"I had to reschedule some meetings, but I'm able to work remotely so I've been doing that all day. So it's not been too bad," Rector said.

Classes were also canceled for Wednesday, but school leaders are scrambling to come up with a plan to get students back in class, which could mean moving them to the nearby church.

Disaster restoration crews and plumbers are trying to both fix the issue and clean up the mess it's left behind.

Right now, it's unclear why the pump failed or how long it will take to repair it.

Campo said, "We'll need understanding and patience as we try to relocate our elementary kids and try to keep the education going for them."

We're told the schools' daycare will be open Wednesday, and teachers have been asked to come in and pack up their classroom teaching materials to move over to the nearby Baptist church.