The naptime blankets in the cubbies of the Barbara K. Lipman Early Childhood School were dripping Tuesday morning because of extensive flooding in the building. The school was drenched with 4 to 5 inches of water throughout the classrooms and hallways giving students an unannounced holiday.
“This is an April Fool’s joke on us,” said Sandra Brown Turner, director of the Lipman School. “That building is very old, and things have floated out that we haven’t seen in 50 years.”
A burst pipe is the culprit behind the flooding, but the cause of the pipe bursting was still unknown yesterday.
Faculty members said a Physical Plant employee conducted her shift Monday night instead of early Tuesday morning, so no one discovered the flood until about 30 minutes before school was scheduled to start.
“I opened the door, and the Oriental rug was floating in the hallway,” said Carol Young, a Lipman School faculty member.
Faculty members had to stand in the parking lot to deliver the news to parents arriving to drop their children off for what they thought would be a normal school day.
Faculty member Jan Kidder said the carpets have to be replaced, and there is obvious damage to textbooks and computer cords throughout the building.
A flood emergency crew was on the school’s campus working to clean up the mess, drying every room with large blowers.
Turner said the flood did not affect the annex building, so classes were conducted as usual for the classrooms there.
Brighty Bradley, Lipman School office coordinator, called all the parents who have children enrolled in the Lipman’s after-school program to cancel yesterday. Lipman faculty members did not know when after-school care would resume.
Some classes are cancelled for today also, but faculty members are moving the older students’ classes to the annex building.
“All sorts of bacteria are being released into the air,” Turner said. “On a yuckiness scale of one to 10, I give this a yuckiness of about 12.”
She said she would not hold classes until the health of her students and faculty was no longer at risk.
However, the faculty maintained a positive attitude about the flood.
“We already made a Starbuck’s run and a La Baguette run,” Turner said. “We’re using this as good planning time for our summer program, our workshop series and the end of the school year.”
