‘We’re not giving up’
Dance school destruction leaves owners devastated
Vandals destroyed the floors and some walls at the Cape Breton School of the Arts in Westmount but the owners vow they aren’t giving up.
“It’s just so depressing but we’re not giving up,” said Susan Gallop, co-owner of the studio and head teacher.
“One of my parents is looking for a hall and if I have to work extra days, I’ll work extra days so the kids don’t get disappointed… We want to assure parents we aren’t giving up.”
Gallop owns the studio with her husband, Brian. She found the damage on Aug. 31 when coming to work with a mother and two students.
Opening the door, they were greeted with water flooding the floors upstairs from clogged sinks with taps running. Downstairs the vandals cut the line to the oil tank, which was threequarters full, and also clogged the sinks and left water running.
Oil is under the foundation so there is a possibility it caused environmental damage to the soil around them and possibly other properties.
“We know the oil is under the foundation. Under the concrete is gravel… once it gets out into the clay and beyond that, that will determine where it moves and how fast it moves,” explained Brian.
“It’s so mean because those kids are waiting to get back to class. I was excited to get back too,” said Susan, who’s run the dance studio for 48 years.
“It’s just sickening. It’s disgusting. It’s stomach turning. It’s unbelievable the mess that we are in again after just putting everything back together,” added Brian.
Cape Breton School of the Arts was severely damaged by the Thanksgiving Day flood in 2016.
Repairs were done by March and mostly everything inside was new including all the raised floors, the carpets, and the walls downstairs.
Susan said the week before the vandalism, there were a series of false alarms at the school. But the night of the incident the alarm didn’t go off.
She thinks the vandals might have been tripping the alarm to find out how to disarm it.