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BRONXVILLE,N.Y. The lights at the Bronxville School were on long after the sun went down on Wednesday as workers could be seen carrying debris out of the building.
Earlier in the day, the wood floor of the gym was piled in a heap on the side of the building waiting to be carted away. The floor was apparently destroyed by the more than three feet of waters that ravaged the lower level of the elementary side of the building during Tropical Storm Irene.
Assistant Superintendent John Kehoe said on Monday that the district will work day and night to clean, disinfect and replace whatever is damaged in the building in an effort to have school open on time Tuesday.
The Board of Education has scheduled a meeting for Thursday night at 6 p.m. in Village Hall. An update on the progress of the clean-up is anticipated.
Also anticipated is a decision by the district on whether the students from Kindergarten through 12 grade will be able to start school as planned.
The floods affected approximately 20 classrooms that mainly serve middle school students, but Kehoe said there are many shared spaces including the gym.
The playing fields outside of the building were also underwater and, though flood waters have receded, they will not be used for practice until further notice. On Sunday, only the top of the soccer net and the highest seat on the bleachers were visible on the playing field, which looked more like a lake.
The playing fields and the parking lot on the elementary school side of the building was completely underwater Sunday morning but have since dried. A valve that allows the water to drain into the Bronx River must have apparently opened after the storm subsided.
"The lot on the side of the building pretty much drained itself," Kehoe said.
Four years ago the board opted to spend $12 million to create the drainage system and to move the boiler room and other critical rooms out of the way of possible flood damage.
Board of Education President Jim Hudson said the last phase of the project, moving the boiler, was only recently completed.
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