Whitehall school building repairs from flooding damage could cost as much as $16 million

Sep. 22--WHITEHALL -- Damage to Whitehall Junior-Senior High School caused by last month's flooding could cost as much as $16 million to repair, and district officials have not received information about whether the district's insurance company will cover the cost.

"We have given them every bit of information they have requested and they still have not provided us an answer on coverage," said Superintendent of Schools Patrick Dee at Monday's Whitehall Board of Education meeting.

The school was significantly damaged on Aug. 24 after strong storms dumped as much as 6 inches of water on the village.

Dee said there was not a space in the school that did not have standing water. Multiple places had a few inches and some had a few feet.

"We had some walls cut open and found substantial mold growing inside many different areas of the high school. That is going to continue and get worse," he said.

The high school gym floor has buckled in about 25 places and is filled with a terrible odor from mold, according to Dee.

He said the district has $32 million worth of coverage from the New York State Insurance Reciprocal. The district provided the company with engineering reports stating that the damage was a direct result of the rain storms.

It has been almost a month and the district has not received an answer, according to Dee.

"The longer NYSIR takes to make a decision for this district and its students, the longer our students are precluded from getting an in-person education. That is simply appalling in my opinion," he said.

"My hope is that somebody at NYSIR decides that they're going to have the intestinal fortitude to make the right decision," Dee added. "Our students can afford this least. Our community can afford this the least."

He encouraged community members to contact the company.

Board President Roxanne Waters agreed that people should start to "make some noise" about why the company is not paying and giving the district an answer.

"We can't continue to have our students not in classrooms and in front of our teachers," she said.

The board on Monday also passed some resolutions to be able to move forward with the repairs in a more expedited manner once the district receives an answer on funding.

Dee and Waters thanked the teachers and staff for adjusting to the online environment.

"This has been a very strange start to the year -- certainly not the one that we have hoped for. Everyone has rolled with the punches and done an outstanding job," Dee said.

"There's good instruction happening. Certainly, it is not a replacement for face-to-face instruction, but our students are really doing an excellent job. Our administrative staff is definitely building the plane as we make it fly," Dee added.

NYSIR did not immediately return a Post-Star voice mail or email seeking comment.

Reach Michael Goot at 518-742-3320 or mgoot@poststar.com and follow his blog poststar.com/blogs/michael_goot/.

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