A burst pipe at the Jefferson Village School flooded water into the library for about half an hour on Jan. 17.
The burst pipe is part of the school’s emergency sprinkler system. It appears the pipe froze and then “let loose” when it thawed around 10 a.m. that morning, said AOS 93 Supt. Steve Bailey.
The sprinkler system still works and is fully online in the rest of the building and most of the library, Bailey said.
The school was closed on Jan. 17 for teacher workshops. No students were in the building at the time. A few teachers in the building for a workshop reported the flooding.
Within a few hours, most of the water had been removed and all the books and moveable furniture were out of the library; no computers were damaged, Bailey said. At this point it is hard to estimate the cost of the damage, but the flooding was “pretty extensive,” Bailey said.
“This will not be an expense to the [school] district,” Bailey said. He believes the architect and contractor that built the building will bear the cost.
All classrooms were open except the library as of the start of school the next morning. Officials hope to have students back in the library early next week, but a temporary library has been set up in an open classroom.
“We’re frustrated that this happened,” Bailey said, “but relieved that it happened when students were not present.”
