Washington welcomes spring break repairs News, Sports, Jobs

Some of the wood floors at Washington Elementary School were damaged when frozen pipes broke in December. (photo provided)

While students are on spring break next week, repairs at Washington Elementary School will begin with new ceiling plastering and a temporary floor installation, according to a news release from Marietta City Schools.

A cold front in December froze and burst water pipes at the school, damaging some ceilings and floors.

“I’m excited”, Principal Cheryl Cook said of the repair. “Plastering at the same time as raising the floor requires impressive coordination between workers, as many of the repairs take place in the same areas.”

Darrell Prim, transportation and facilities manager, told the Marietta City Schools Board of Education Monday that WW Plaster of Buffalo, W.Va., and River Valley Flooring of Marietta are next to begin repairing the damage at the 111-year-old elementary school become week.

“Plastering begins on the first floor Washington Street side to repair the holes in the ceiling, while the flooring is pulled up on the wind tunnel side first.” said Prime. “And to prepare myself, on Friday I’ll be working with my boys to clear furniture out of Emily Hopp’s classroom and hallways. I don’t want anyone to get hurt trying to move these heavy parts.”

Emily Hopp, a teacher, works with a Washington Elementary School student on a reading intervention. (photo provided)

River Valley Flooring will focus on removing the warped hardwood floors and installing temporary flooring at this time, the release said.

“So the floors will be plywood for the rest of the school year, then after school we’ll have new floors installed.” said Prime.

Work next week will allow teachers to open doors more smoothly and patch any holes in the ceiling, Prim told the board.

“I’m just excited to get all these bumps out of my room.” said Emily Hopp, a Title 1 teacher at the elementary school. “Every time I have new students here to intervene, they ask why I have yellow lines on the floor.”

The yellow security tape holding separate boards together was a temporary measure during early damage control, along with dehumidifiers and air purifiers with HEPA filters, the release said.

“We kept the dehumidifiers and air purifiers running constantly, but with the warming weather, they cut out their jobs.” said cook.

Prim said any temporary groundwork not completed during student break time will be completed in the evenings when students are not at school.

“Then our team of painters will also repaint the ceiling this summer,” said Prime.