Danbury High School to repair ‘skate park’ humps in gym
DANBURY — The school district must repair what one official characterized as “skate park-” like humps on the floor of the high school gym caused by a burst water pipe earlier this year.
Fixing the damage to the floor of the old gym, elevator and weight room ceiling is estimated to cost nearly $400,000, Michael Seelig, chief of strategy and operations, told school board members during a recent Sites and Facilities Committee meeting.
The district is working with Danbury's insurance company to do the repairs, but must meet the $250,000 deductible. With no room in the education budget to cover that expense, the Sites and Facilities Committee approved a request that went to the full school board to ask the city to cover the cost.
“We definitely don't have $250,000,” said John Spang, the school finance director. “It's unplanned at this point, nor do we have plans that we could defer even if we wanted to at this stage.”
The Board of Education unanimously approved that request at its Wednesday meeting, and the City Council will now be asked to take the money out of Danbury's fund balance. The city and schools share an insurance policy, Spang said.
Seelig explained how water from the burst pipe
went down an elevator, damaged the ceiling of the weight room, flowed down the hallway and traveled to the gym, where it got under the wood floor. With warmer weather and humidity, the water caused the floor to pop up, creating “humps” that Seelig said the sites and facilities coordinator described as a “skate park.”
A flooring company has tried cutting up the floor and drying out the water, but this has been a temporary fix, he said.
“But just a few weeks later the moisture moves underneath the floor because it's all shellacked, the moisture doesn't have a chance to dry out,” Seelig said. “It moves under the floor and the humps pop up somewhere else.”
The school district has filed a claim with its insurance company for the floor,
weight room ceiling, elevator and a few other repairs, he said.
Repairing the floor alone is about $295,000, Seelig said. The district is waiting on the price for the repairs to the weight room ceiling.
Work would begin as soon as possible, pending funding.
“As soon as we have the funding I would expect, pending the supply the availability of materials to be able to get it done by August, possibly going into September,” said Rich Jalbert, the sites and facilities coordinator.
He added the athletic director has a plan if the gym isn't ready by September.
“I think the x factor here is how long its going to take to dry out underneath because if it's a hot, humid summer that could extend the timeline,” Seelig said.