Clogged sink, forgotten faucet flood WF-R High classrooms

What is it they say about Mondays?

More than a dozen teachers were washed out of their Wake Forest-Rolesville High classrooms Monday after water left running for an entire weekend flooded much of the school's math and science building.

A clogged sink in an upstairs classroom appears to be the point of origin for the flood, school Principal André Smith said.

Water was shut off to the three-story building late Friday morning after plumbers found an unrelated leak in an upstairs bathroom.

Sometime after the water was shut off, a rarely-used sink in science teacher Tara Pointin's third-floor classroom was turned and left on. When water was turned back on sometime after 4 p.m. Friday, the building's faucets were never checked. The sink, which was clogged, overflowed and flooded out much of the building's lower floors.

Pointin, whose classroom sustained minimal damage, considers herself lucky. A bit of water pooled around her desk and damaged her laptop computer, she said, which was in its case on the floor.

Head custodian Shirley Johnson found the damage shortly after 7 a.m. Monday. The worst of the problems were in the ground floor where water was as deep as 3 inches. Math teacher Tenerian Montague lost her grade book and much of her teaching materials. Damaged workbooks in Heather Mote's classroom had to be thrown out.

Standing at her classroom door, Barbara Horton said she saw at least three ceiling tiles on the floor and water pouring from the ceiling "like a waterfall."

Johnson and her staff used snow shovels to push damaged tiles out of classrooms and into garbage bags where they were thrown into a heap outside the building. Wet-dry vacuums sucked up the thousands of gallons of water on classroom floors and windows on the lower floors were thrown open to Monday's 40-plus mph winds. Despite the cold temperatures, clean-up crews hoped the winds would dry out the building.

Displaced teachers were relocated to the school gym and media center. Students with lockers in the building were kept at bay.

This is not the first flood in the 13-year-old building. On the very first day of classes in 1989, water seeped through the floors and walls after science teachers demonstrated the emergency showers. No pipes, it seems, were connected to the drains, leaving no place for the water to go.

By Monday afternoon, teachers with classes on the building's third floor were able to return to their rooms. On Wednesday, Smith said some classes were still being held in the media center and computer lab.

Environmental specialists checked out the air quality in the building earlier this week. Smith wants the building to dry out a bit more and get a second once-over from the school system's environmental team. "We want to make sure the conditions are safe for students and teachers," he said.

Damage estimates are not yet available, though Smith said he hoped the school system's insurance would cover the cost of clean-up and repair.