Eagle Era

A burst pipe disrupted school routine, inconveniencing students and staff

By Lisa Shokoor

On October 29th, one of the boys’ bathroom pipes burst in the 700 wing, flooding the entire corridor. This created setbacks for many classes in the wing, such as English, Drama, and Art. Teachers and students were forced to relocate from the rotunda while custodial staff worked to drain the water. Many students and staff were affected, as the rotunda is the center of the school. 

Mr. Howard, an English teacher in the 700 wing, explained his experience with the flooding. He said, “Nothing like this has happened in my classroom before, but we have had issues with small fires, vandalism, theft, and other things like that.” 

He added, “I met with the principal afterwards just to make sure that we have a mutual understanding of what went wrong and how we can prevent it in the future. I think that everybody did a really good job of identifying the problem when it happened and seeking out other areas that would potentially be impacted.” 

Mr. Howard said, “The district sent maintenance down here to repair it, so it was taken care of swiftly.”

Mr. Peterson was one of the first administrators to report to the 700-wing entrance. He said, “I first heard about it on our radio; someone was saying that water was excessively coming from that area.” 

Pictured are the remnants of the water from the 700-wing flood flowing towards outdoor walkways (Photo Credit: Eason Chang (10)).

According to Mr. Peterson, one area in particular that was heavily impacted was Theater 70. He explained, “Water started getting into the theater. Mr. Howard, Mr. Navarrete, and I ran in and tried to make sure some things weren’t damaged in the theater because some things were on the floor.” 

The flood impacted the production of the fall play, The Play That Goes Wrong, inconveniencing cast and crew. Stage manager Cinthana Santhakumar (12) explained her feelings when she first heard about the flooding. She said, “I just thought the carpet was wet, but after talking [to Ms. Benedetti] later, I found out that there was ankle-deep water in the theater, and I was really worried because it was a week before the show.”

Even though the quick response from staff and administration helped with the situation, it was still an inconvenience since the theater was blocked off. Santhakumar said, “They had to close off space under the doors, so the water wouldn’t get through and damage the backstage area.”

Without a doubt, this incident serves as a reminder of the importance of regular maintenance to help prevent similar situations in the future. As Mr. Peterson said, “Being on top of maintenance issues—any time there’s a report of something not working, taking a closer look at it can help.”