Cushing Parents Keep Children at Home After Gas Line Breaks

Friday, January 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Dozen of parents kept their children at home when an ancient gas line broke at a Green Country school, resulting in no heat. Pre-schoolers, ages four and five, attending Cushingâ€™s Wilson Elementary, go to class in the what is now the former elementary building. While temperatures dropped, frustration among parents over the situation was at the boiling point.

There was nearly one teacher for every ten students attending the pre-school Friday. Parents of the other 80 students, including Lindsay Emerson's mom, kept them away from class. "I just feel like I'm setting myself up to get my kid sick by sending her to school," Emerson said.

Tuesday, a gas line that school officials say was probably more than 50 years old, broke outside the school. With no gas to the school, there was no heat. School leaders then canceled school on Wednesday. A handful of parents let their four or five-year-olds go to pre-school on Thursday. Space heaters, hidden behind barriers, were used by the school and kept the temperature in the classroom around 65 degrees fahrenheit. "Children are more susceptible to sickness and illness than anyone else," Emerson said.

Adding insult to injury, workers repairing the gas line, accidentally broke a water line and a phone line. Both utilities were quickly repaired. Emerson says parents weren't told about those problems. School officials say the lines were quickly fixed. "I knew the gas had been off, but I didn't know the water had been cut or the phones were having problems," Emerson explained.

Kevin Clouse thinks the school acted promptly. His daughter was in school on Thursday. â€œThings happen, things break,â€ Clouse said. â€œIt could have happened at someone's home. â€œI'm just happy they responded, and got the kids out of here."

School officials say other parents would have been frustrated if the children were put in classrooms with older students or if school had been closed entirely. "We're just trying to provide an option for the parents who really have to have their kids here,â€ said assistant superintendent Eddie Williams. He says he expects to have the problem fixed and the elementary school open on Monday. But after all Williamâ€™s has been through, he's not making any promises.