School Closed Due to Water Damage

Windsor school closed with water damages

BY SHARON DUNN

SDUNN@GREELEYTRIBUNE.COM,

Mountain View Elementary in Windsor remains closed today because of weekend water damage caused by a malfunctioning heating system, which flooded the school over the Thanksgiving break.

While students get a couple more vacation days, school personnel met at the school on Monday to continue the cleanup, which began on Sunday.

Principal Dan Cox said he could not estimate the cost of the damage. 

He said the heating system malfunctioned, pumping water through the duct work in the ceilings. All of the classrooms, with the exception of two, were flooded from the top down, and the ceiling tiles all collapsed as a result.

“If you’d have been here yesterday afternoon, it was a completely different school than it is today,” Cox said of the fast cleanup Monday morning. “We had 15 people in this building last night until 2 a.m., sucking water up, getting fans in place, putting in dehydrating machines.”

Cox said the school would remain closed through Wednesday to ensure the building would be ready for students.

“We’re going to crank up the drying effort on Tuesday, and that will require us to seal the building,” Cox said. “We’re projecting to reopen by Thursday, but we’re going to take it one day at a time, one hour at a time, one moment at a time.”

Cox said the students have put in enough seat time and have received enough instructional minutes to miss a couple of extra days this year without the need to make them up.

“Later in the year if we ran into extended snow days, we might have concerns at that point, but we’re not in the position where we’d have to make up any time,” Cox said.

Cox said parents have already been offering help in spades.

“We’re a strong school, and I know my staff, students and parents will respond to this professionally and with grace,” Cox said. “Our school board has already been in asking how to help. Parents have offered to help. This community responds to stuff like this in an unbelievable manner. Windsor takes care of its own.”

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