Last Tuesday, Jan. 21,  a water line break caused water damage and flooding to several of the classrooms in the Intermediate School.

During the week, classrooms were relocated and extensive work has been done to completely clean and remediate the water damage that occurred.

However, two classrooms received extensive water damage that required portions of wood flooring platforms to be replaced.  On Friday afternoon, it was determined the upper portion of one of the platforms contained old asbestos floor tiles. This will cause a delay to the remediation schedule as the district must now replace this flooring in order to repair the water damage.

Working under the guidance of the safety/risk management team from Orange-Ulster BOCES and the New York State Department of Labor, all the necessary safeguards are being adhered to as this project is completed.

Please be reassured that material and air quality samplings have been taking place and the building is completely safe.   As an added layer of precaution, all adjacent classrooms will remain relocated until the project is complete.

Additionally, classroom areas and dumpsters will be identified, labeled and sealed for the asbestos abatement portion of this work. Asbestos abatement notifications will also be placed on building doorways in accordance with the Department of Labor and State Education guidelines.  The district has also received the necessary abatement variance from the Department of Labor and anticipates completing all abatement work this next weekend when school is not in session.

We are grateful to the faculty and staff of these affected classrooms for minimizing any impact a temporary relocation can have on students and for continuing their academic lessons in an encouraging and safe environment.

We also thank our Building and Grounds team for its continued, meticulous oversight of this work. The health and safety of our students, faculty and staff always remain our first priority.

If necessary, we will provide additional updates. Thank you.