SWAMPED SCHOOLS
234 hit by flood as staff scramble for big reopening
Hundreds of schools across the city already under the gun to set up COVID safety measures and prepare for the full return of in-person classes in just over a week’s time were hit with another unwelcome challenge Wednesday night: cleaning up after Hurricane Ida-related flooding.
Two-hundred thirty-four school buildings across the city were flooded during the historic rainfall, according to DOE officials — about 17% of the roughly 1,400 public school buildings citywide. One-hundred seventy of those buildings have been cleaned up already, while 64 are still getting worked on, according to the agency.
One school that’s still cleaning up from the floodwaters, Central Park East in East Harlem, saw its basement covered with water, according to a photo shared with The Daily News. The flooding reached the school cafeteria and boiler room as well as an office for the community based organization that works with the school and a parent gathering space, said CPE parent and District 4 Community Education Council President Kaliris Salas-Ramirez.
School facilities officials have said they’ll need at least until Tuesday to finish cleaning up and test the air in the school for mold, Salas-Ramirez said, robbing teachers of precious days to begin setting up their classrooms before the first day on Sept. 13.
“There’s so much that goes into the logistics of what the schools look like,” she said. “Not being able to go into the building, even if it’s just three days, is a big hit for us.”
Wednesday’s torrential downpour flooded buildings across the city, wreaking havoc on basements and claiming at least 13 lives.
DOE officials said the majority of the flooding of school buildings was “minor and isolated to partial flooding of basements.”
Spokesman Nathaniel Styer said “our incredible facilities staff immediately began making repairs and replacing lost materials at a small number of school buildings impacted by Hurricane Ida ... the team is working around the clock to ensure all buildings are ready to welcome students and staff back in the next two weeks.”
Videos and images of school buildings inundated with water ratcheted up stress for already anxious teachers and parents as they emerged Wednesday night and Thursday.
Rita Joseph, the democratic nominee for the City Council seat in Brooklyn’s District 40, posted a video of torrents of water streaming down the steps of the Erasmus Hall High School campus in Flatbush.
Jessica Byrne, a parent in District 22 in southern Brooklyn, said she saw videos of water streaming up through the toilets in the basement of Public School 139, where her child is a student. Other schools in the district saw worse damage, she said.
Some private schools, which operate on different calendars than the DOE, were already supposed to be in session when the rainfall hit.
St. Francis DeSales school for the deaf in Brooklyn was slated to begin classes Thursday, but the basement of the school flooded Wednesday night, forcing the school to hold remote classes Thursday, said school director Jodi Shaw.
The school was already reeling from news that the Education Department delayed the start of school bus service for its students until Sept. 13.