FITCHBURG – It is still unclear how long it will take to make repairs in schools damaged by the severe cold last week.
There were frozen pipes in three schools in the city, Fitchburg High School, Longsjo Middle School and Crocker Elementary School. The damage to Crocker on Jan. 1 was the most severe, with water damage to asbestos ceiling tiles in several classrooms. The school was built more than 50 years ago.
City officials acted quickly, Superintendent Andre R. Ravenelle said, transferring 650 students to two other schools, and students missed only two days of classes after winter break. Crocker students and teachers resumed classes Monday - after two snow days because of the near-blizzard Jan. 4 - at St. Anthony de Padua Elementary School, a former Catholic school in Fitchburg, and Thomas C. Passios Elementary School in Lunenburg.
Fortunately, the city’s insurance company, the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association, is covering all damages, Mayor and School Committee Chairman Stephen L. DiNatale said Tuesday.
The city is working closely with state agencies and others, the mayor said, to ensure that Crocker is a safe, healthy environment.
Mr. Ravenelle said he is not sure how much repairs will cost or how long it will take to complete the work. Additionally, he said officials do not have an estimate yet, on the cost of transferring students to other buildings.
“Everyone has been so helpful and hospitable,” the superintendent said of Lunenburg officials, the Diocese of Worcester and others who pitched in to get the children back to classes. “It is a great community effort by all.”
The Gardner and Leominster school districts, Applewild School and the Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School provided unused classroom furniture to Fitchburg.
Mr. Ravenelle said pipes bursting at Longsjo Middle School caused water damage to the gym and several classrooms, and several classrooms at the high school had water damage from burst pipes.
Fitchburg City Councilor Beth R. Walsh, who served on the School Committee for a few years and also on the building needs committee, said both committees are aware of issues at schools in the district, most of them more than 60 years old.
An assessment in November done by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and an architectural firm placed Crocker Elementary in the lowest rating for building conditions, she said.
Built in 1963 with a flat roof and a sprawling one-level design, Ms. Walsh said, Crocker was “not built for New England winters.” Given the the recent sustained sub-zero temperatures and deferred maintenance because of budget contraints, the damage may have been unpreventable, she said.
“What happened at Crocker was not a big surprise due to the age of the school, but not planned on," she said. “We would schedule maintenance and repairs for each school, but it was a matter of finding money at that time to fix things and we had to prioritize. We have a long system of, ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’ ”
The city has spent about $12.5 million on school maintenance on all schools in the district, she said, and the MSBA is reviewing a proposal from the city for a new school for pre-kindergarten through Grade 8 that would consolidate classes at Crocker Elementary and Longsjo Middle schools, she said. If it is approved, the MSBA would reimburse the city 80 percent of eligible costs of the project.
“We are waiting to hear,” she said. “We would have another empty building, but at least we’d have a new building.”
City Councilor Marcus DiNatale said he does not believe the incidents could have been avoided.
“The extreme record-setting temperatures caused problems across New England with personal homes and government buildings and schools,” he said. “In my 10 years as a city councilor, I have never seen this number of pipe issues in our schools, and I feel the last two weeks of frigid temperatures where all this occurred is not a coincidence.”