Jenks Middle School Fights Flooding Problem

A water main break causes serious damage at Jenks Middle School.<br/><br/>School officials say the library, as well as several classrooms and offices quickly filled with water after a pipe beneath the

Saturday, October 14th 2006, 4:59 pm

By: News On 6

A water main break causes serious damage at Jenks Middle School.

School officials say the library, as well as several classrooms and offices quickly filled with water after a pipe beneath the school burst yesterday.

News on 6 reporter Chris Wright was in Jenks and saw the damage first hand.

Crews spent Saturday looking for the source of that leak and administrators are not sure if students will be allowed back in school on Monday.

The water has been drained from Jenks Middle School and workers spent most of Saturday determining exactly where it came from.

Rob Miller, Principal: "It's a time consuming process probably going to take most of the day to figure out where the leak is before we figure out where to go from here."

Principal Rob Miller says water began quickly seeping through the school's floors Friday evening.

And by the time the water was shut off, the damage had been done.

There was an inch and a half of water in some areas of the school, and in others like the library, thousands of dollars in carpeting are completely ruined.

Rob Miller, Principal: "Anywhere where water can flow down hill, we've had pretty extensive damage."

Administrators though say they were lucky the water main did not burst while school was in session.

As a result, they will have the entire weekend to cleanup, and they hope students will be able to return to class this week.

Bob Ferem, Executive Administrator: "Having a couple of days leave time before having students back in the building is really very helpful."

Whether or not students will be back in the building next week remains to be seen. Contracted crews will continue to work around the clock on the cleanup, but the leak must be located and plugged before the water and electricity can be turned back on. Principal Miller says its a situation he never anticipated, but he and other administrators will deal with it.

Rob Miller, Principal: "It's just not one of those things they teach you in principal school, but it's one of those things that happens unfortunately."

School officials will make a final decision tomorrow on whether TO hold classes on Monday.

As for damage from the flooding, Principal Rob Miller estimates it could cost the school hundreds of thousands of dollars.