Ceiling Crisis Continues!

by JT Clough and Angie LaFave

On Sunday, March 15, tragedy struck Great Brook School. A freak rainstorm proved to be too much for the school's roof, and water leaked through to the ceiling tiles. Some tiles became so saturated that the few staff members that were present had to poke a hole in them to let the water drain through. A note on a bulletin board describe it as “a waterfall”.

“We had ten five-gallon pails and all of the cafeteria trash cans trying to catch the water,” custodian John Gator said on March 16, recounting the damage from the day before. “We emptied them and refilled them three times each. Plus there were at least 60 gallons of water soaked into the carpet. It was like a faucet running slowly.”

Miraculously, Ms. Moncrief's outdoor band classroom did not suffer any damage.

The most devastating damage was dealt to the eighth grade molas that were hanging on the wall beneath the falling water. “I think we saved all but two rows,” said Mr. West, GBS and AES principal. Mr. Gator said, “One of the molas just disintegrated into a bucket.” These projects were extremely hard to make molas are art projects that are made completely of paper. They are many colorful pieces of paper that make a scene or an animal. They originated off the coast of panama made by the Cuna Indians. They took 30 or more hours to make. An anonymous student's mola was completely destroyed, and after he found out, he got very quiet and solemn-faced. If you're an eight grader who had a mola on the board and you were able to save it, thank Mr. West! He rushed to get the molas off the board before they were all completely destroyed.

This is not the first time this has happened. Water has leaked through to the ceiling tiles before. It causes the tiles to yellow and weaken and they have to be replaced. Some of the tiles that were just replaced quite recently are now in need of replacement again. A previous article (click here to see!) includes more information about the issue.

Ms. Bando, the art teacher, has a well-thought-out plan to prevent this from occurring again. “[The cork board] will have a little roof over it, like a cafe entrance,” she said.

Luckily, the ceiling has been repaired and all the works of art have been removed in the case of another incident. Molas that could be restored are now back to normal. Custodians are sighing in relief that the damage has finally been repaired, but, due to ongoing weather, everyone is crossing their fingers for no more leaks in the school roof.