Saturday, February 1, 2014

Leak at Baldwinville school forces evacuation

Leak at Baldwinville school forces evacuation

Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer


TEMPLETON — Students at Baldwinville Elementary School were evacuated Thursday morning after a pipe burst, causing sewer water to soak through the ceiling and rain down into a second floor classroom.

“In the third floor girl’s bathroom a janitor had gone in to replace an O-ring in the toilet, which is a routine repair,” explained Principal John Graziano. “At the same time, a pipe burst and water began to leak.”

The leak occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m., just as students and faculty were getting ready to start the day. According to Mr. Graziano, there were no students in the classroom at the time and those who were in the building were moved down into the gymnasium.


After the arrival of health inspector Phil Leger, it was determined that the students and faculty should be bussed to the Narragansett Middle School, where they were met by staff and given use of the auditorium for a movie.

While the students were gone, ceiling tiles in the second-grade classroom were removed and the room was blocked off. Mr. Graziano said there will be a two-fold solution to the issue, which will involve fixing the pipe and bringing in a professional cleaning company to clean and sanitize the room and make sure it is safe for students and faculty. The job will reportedly be completed this weekend and the room should be usable on Monday.

Ruth Miller, superintendent of Narragansett School District, said this is the second time this year an incident has occurred in a Templeton elementary school, forcing students to be moved, and events like this are not entirely uncommon. She said both schools are over 90 years old and are outdated and out of compliance.

There has been debate in the town for years about building a new elementary school, but very little official action has been taken. Ms. Miller believes the support for a new school is there, but a very vocal minority may be stalling the process.

“I understand the financial constraints of the town,” Ms. Miller said. “But at some point we have to put the kids first.”

Mr. Graziano shared this sentiment, and said that although the students and staff did an excellent job on Thursday, issues in both buildings will continue to crop up and disrupt the school day.

“When you have buildings like this, their age and the hundreds of students and faculty moving through every day causes wear and tear,” he said.

Students returned to the school at about 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, and parents were informed about the leak and the transfer to the middle school. Students were back in class Friday morning, although the room remained closed off.

12 comments:

  1. Working at a wastewater treatment plant for many years has taught me that being around sewerage all the time builds up your immunity. Many of the new people working at our plant are ill more often during the first few years of working in that environment but later are sick less than the general public. I certainly am not saying that letting the toilets flow into the classrooms as a matter of policy makes sense as a method for building a strong immune system just things like this happen and it is certainly not a major crisis. Nice job Mr. Graziano for handling the situation in a professional manner.

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  2. Geez so much drama! this type issue could have happened in a brand new school... please Ms. Miller stop trying to force our town and the residents of our town into bankruptcy... many other financial issues in town need to be addressed and resolved before we can even think about building a new school!

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    1. Mrs. Koziol sat beside me last week and said the state said our schools have too many kids in them. Why did the school committee give the East Templeton building back to the town ?? It is my guess that the worse the school people can make things look, they figure that will push the new school their way. In the end that is up to the tax payers in this town. After the state went into Spencer because of budget issues, they also took a good look at that school system. Needless to say, they got much more than they bargained for. Spencer/West Brookfield were found not doing the things that are required by the State. I wonder if they would find our school system was spending too much money on administration, and not enough for the children?? Maybe we will find out, but one thing I do know is, this spring the school people will gain much more by working with the town, than by working against it. Bev.

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    2. Wasn't ET deemed not safe for the kids?

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    3. Only by those who want a new school

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    4. That is the problem with you Huff and many others in town, You BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOUR TOLD, like what Ruth wants you to believe, Wake up and see for yourself instead of following others leads.

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    5. Prove me wrong. Didn't the BOH examine the school & deem it unsafe? Pretty sure they are the only ones in town that even have that authority. You might wanna check yourself.

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    6. Puffy,
      Do your own research. You don't believe anything you read here. Call the BOH and ask for the report deeming ET unsafe. Then we will post it to the blog, if such a report exists.

      Then we'll fill you in on what really happened June 2011, after yet another school override failed.

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    7. I have never believed this blog. You have been proven wrong time & time again.

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  3. if the cost to live in Templeton keeps going up, up and up the way it has been we won't have to worry about over crowding in the schools...because the foreclosure rate and homes for sale will be sky rocketing in our little town and families with children will be moving on, up and out...

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  4. To Huff, you can believe this or not, I called the BOH and was told there is NO report on ET other than a 2004 air quality issue that required more venting of the building due to the fact there is no vapor barrier between the floor and the ground/crawl space and I believe the crawl space is only under one classroom and a lav.

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