Water Damage Closes GCMS Library, Classroom For Up To A Week

The Grover Cleveland Middle School library will be off limits to students for up to a week and another classroom will be closed for days as the crews clean up water damage from a burst water pipe this week. 

A pipe that ruptured early Wednesday morning in a third-floor classroom leaked water down through a second-floor classroom and into the school's library on the first floor.

The water also destroyed about a dozen computers in the library and knocked out the library's wireless access, according to a statement issued by James Heinegg, superintendent for the Caldwell-West Caldwell School District. 

The library will be closed to students for five to seven days, said Heinegg in the statement. In addition, there will be no before- or after-school access in the library during that time. 

In the meantime, the middle school's auxiliary gym will be converted into a temporary computer lab, said Heinegg. 

The classroom where the water pipe burst, Room 318, was cleaned Wednesday morning and opened to students, said Heinegg in the press release. 

The second-floor classroom through which the water leaked through into the library, Room 218, will be closed for three to five days as crews clean up and repair damages that will be done after the regular school day, said Heinegg in the press release. 

The superintendent also expected the water damage done to another third-floor classroom after a water coil broke in December will be completed within the next week or so. The repair to four additional classrooms damaged in the December water leak is expected to be completed by the end of the month, said Heinegg. 

"The past few weeks have presented us with several challenges at GCMS," said Heinegg in the issued statement, "and I would like to commend and thank the entire GCMS community for your understanding, flexibility, and resilience."