Sewage leak leads to early dismissal
Custodians prepare high school bathrooms for cleanup after a sewage leak resulted in an early dismissal on Monday.
November 9, 2020
Considering the way 2020 has gone, emergency dismissals and virtual days seemed an inevitability for teachers and students at Bellwood-Antis High School.
But no one thought it would happen like this.
Bellwood-Antis students in the middle and high schools were dismissed at 11 on Monday after a sewage backup made holding classes for the remainder of the day impossible.
“We stopped it early,” said B-A superintendent Dr. Thomas McInroy. “We shut down the rest rooms and quit using the water. It is localized to one part of the building, but we didn’t want to take any chances.”
The part of the school where the backup is located is in what is often referred to as the new section, near the high school cafeteria and district office. Dr. McInroy during the morning sewage began backing up into sinks in both of those areas.
“It’s not in the floor drains, which is good,” said Dr. McInroy.
Once the backup has been fixed, the affected areas will still have to be thoroughly disinfected, which means classes for Tuesday may be virtual days for students in the middle and high schools.
“We will make that call this evening,” Dr. McInroy said.
