A broken water main has prompted the Frenchtown School District to cancel its junior and high school classes for the rest of this week. Kindergarten through sixth grade classes were not affected and will resume tomorrow morning.
Superintendent Randy Cline says the mess was discovered by a teacher yesterday morning.
"It’s the worst thing that I’ve seen and I’ve been in schools for 37 years. The entire main floor of the original high school was covered in water. Both gym floors, the high school gym floors and the junior high gym floor were covered with water. The water had traveled down to the commons area, meaning the main floor of the junior high and the junior high offices.”
A preliminary investigation suggests a bolt securing a pipe-clamp broke which led to chain reaction failure. Cline estimates it will cost at least $100,000 to replace just one gym floor, but both gym floors may have to be replaced.
The final damage assessment is far from complete. The district’s winter break was slated to start next Monday.
Classes will resume January 3. Cline predicts the junior and senior high schools will be working around this problem right through the summer break.