By: Squire Editors

     On Monday, December 26, pipelines in Eisenhower High School burst due to the freezing temperatures, with a low that day being 6 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to get exclusive insight as to what happened, The Squire interviewed three different sources who were in the middle of the action.

     As the principal at Eisenhower, Mrs. Beers always gets all sides of every story reported to her to aid her in best handling the problem. Beers commented that even with herself being on vacation at the time the pipes burst, she was notified that help was on the way and at the site within twelve minutes. However, even in those twelve minutes of the pipes damaging the school, water hit areas from the nurse’s office all the way to the band storage closets and band room- some even went into the elementary school. Beers is taking action to strike back, putting into place fans throughout the once flooded hallways, and a plan to replace the drywall in the lower parts of the walls and rooms that were damaged. Luckily, because the band room and other rooms in that hallway don’t have drywall, a material that soaks up a ton of water, less repairs will be needed to be done to those areas. Beers reassuringly stated that none of this will be harmful to students, and these actions are being made now so that it doesn’t get to a point where dangerous mold or other substances could be a factor. Along with Beers, Mr. Mark Napolitan, EMHS music instructor, was also a “crucial instrument,” according to Beers, in helping with repairs.

     The Squire asked Mr. Napolitan for an update on the situation. “We’re still trying to assess the damage, but a lot of things got wet,” he explained. Uniforms, instruments, and various other objects in the vicinity of the pipe break got soaked, and there is damage to the dry wall and floors in multiple areas. Unfortunate as it may be, Napolitan does not believe it will hold anyone back. “We have to make the best of it. It’s just an inconvenience to work around,” Napolitan stated. “Continuing to work, however possible- that’s the goal.” The Squire knows that everyone will persevere, and everything will be back to normal in no time.

     To hear the view of an employee, The Squire interviewed current Warren County School District Electrician and Eisenhower alumni, Paul Swanson. Swanson claimed the estimated time of fixing the water damage would be a couple of weeks to a month. With the pipe burst occurring over break, many workers had to come in right after Christmas. Swanson commented on having to come in over break, “Some custodians and some of us maintenance guys had four and a half hours in the day it broke where we were cleaning up water and the mess it made,” he said. Swanson also detailed the area of damage saying, “The band storage room got the most damage because that’s where the break was, but water did get into the auditorium and some rooms in the office area. It could have been a lot worse if it was near the classrooms.” During the time with no students in the building, maintenance workers brought in new desks and commenced other plans. Swanson highlighted that having to come in on a day-off has allowed them to not complete any of their additional plans for school.

Even with these damages made to the school, things have been running as normally as possible after break, with the only major changes for students and faculty being a change in location while working in certain periods. This truly proves that, rain or shine, Eisenhower can persevere through anything that comes our way!