CAES sustained minor damage during floods Other TRSU schools in good shape; all to open on time

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The area rumor mill was working overtime as people have added their own interpretations to a story about flood damage in Vermont schools that ran in VT Digger a week after the July 10 floods.

With the Digger article attributing “major damage” to the school, one such rumor is that the Chester-Andover Elementary is so heavily damaged that it cannot be reopened. But that’s not the case.

“We are as certain as we can be that school at Chester-Andover will be happening in that building as usual. We see no damage that will keep students out of the building,” said Lauren Fierman,  superintendent of the five-school Two Rivers Supervisory Union. The first day of school at CAES is slated for Wednesday, Aug. 31.

Fierman also said that to the best of her knowledge, there had been no floodwaters in the school. According to Fierman, there was water on the grounds and in the parking lot, and flooding washed away some of the playground cover, but most of that has already been repaired.

The Digger story said,  “Chester-Andover Elementary School, in Chester, was one of a few schools that sustained major damage, according to local officials’ response to the state’s survey.” That survey was requested by the Agency of Education to assess which schools would need the most help in bouncing back from the storm, according to an AOE spokeswoman,who also noted that these self-reported assessments were “snapshots in time.”

The report from TRSU to AOE included the following about Chester-Andover:

“A roadway washed out in part, structural integrity of part of the main building is still being assessed, structure of an outbuilding is damaged, a fuel tank may have been compromised by water (still being assessed) and may need to be pumped out and replaced, playground mulch/material entirely washed away by flooding, general cleanup of mud and debris will be needed (entire parking lot and paved area around the building was covered in water/run off from adjacent river.”

That assessment was made a day or two after the July 10 flooding by school officials and representatives of the Vermont School Board Insurance Trust, which carries the insurance coverage for the school

The outbuilding, a portable classroom known as the White House, sat in flood waters and sustained damage that the school deemed “major” in its self-reporting to the AOE.  Fierman said the force of the waters moved the building on its concrete blocks, and it won’t be used as school starts. Fierman told The Telegraph that school staff are planning to shift the functions of the White House — including office space — into the main building. But school officials will have the wait to see what compensation the insurance carrier provides before deciding how to permanently handle the loss of that space.

However, the underground fuel tank was found not to have taken on water and the roadside and playground washouts were quickly fixed. The question about structural integrity of a part of the main building had to do with checking to make sure the repairs made under the original school wing after a water main break in 2018 had held up.

Fierman said they were confident that those would be fine, but they were being checked out of an abundance of caution.

TRSU Facilities Director Todd Parah told The Telegraph that there was no damage at any of the four other schools in the supervisory union — Green Mountain High and Cavendish Town, Ludlow and Mount Holly elementaries — and the AOE listed TRSU as having had minor flood impact overall.