Water pipe leak in commons causes lunch relocation
Lunch room staff, building administrators and district officials create makeshift cafeteria
February 5, 2015
Due to a water pipe break in the cafeteria on Thursday, Feb. 5, students ate lunch in classrooms after getting food from a temporary location in the main foyer.
According to an email sent from principal Tobie Waldeck via Skyward to all students’ parents, “a water pipe burst above a section of ceiling tile in our commons area. Our crews were able to shut water off to that section of pipe and begin detailed cleaning. Unfortunately, several ceiling tiles collapsed onto the floor along with a fair amount of water. Thankfully, no one was in the area when this occurred.”
Because of this occurrence, the commons became sectioned off and could no longer be used for lunch periods. The lunch room staff, building administrators and several district officials set up the temporary lunch line in the main foyer, and students were directed to come get their hot or cold lunch and return to classrooms to eat. All meals were free, excluding ala carte items.
Upper-A hallway students began to file through the makeshift lunch line at about 11:15 a.m., and students in the C hallway had still not yet received their lunches until about 1 p.m.
Sophomore Sydney Williamson reflected on the experience.
“I honestly think it’s ridiculous. If you have a car or anything to leave you should be able to leave, so we could actually go out and get food ourselves. It’s stupid, really, doing it by hallways…not to mention some people haven’t had breakfast either, so they’re pretty much starving,” Williamson said. “[Having] first lunch, you expect to be served straight up, and then they cut us in to fourth block; it really, honestly, makes me upset. Maybe people who normally have first lunch could go first, rather than by hallways, because people who normally have first lunch know the procedure, and people who have fourth lunch are more likely to eat breakfast. So maybe go with the order, rather than the hallways.”
Despite the frantic nature of the situation, social studies teacher Kelli Haeffner said her class went as planned.
“[Not having the cafeteria] makes things a little crazy, lots of questions [from students]; but ultimately we still did our learning piece before we ate lunch like we normally would. [Students will] still be here, so it didn’t really affect us,” Haeffner said. “It affects our learning time, but these are circumstances we can’t control. In education you’ve got to roll with a lot of things, so you just roll with it.”
In order to assist building and district administrators and staff, Catty Shack students wheeled trash cans throughout the school.
“We’re going to rooms and getting trash from all the students so the [custodians] don’t have to do it, and they can worry about the water leak,” senior Catty Shack social media coordinator Macy Walker said. “We do the Catty Shack this block, so they basically just said, ‘hey, Catty Shack people, we need your help,’ and we got to come and do this. It’s better than being in class.”
Counselor Trish Chandler, who assisted with cookie sales, felt the makeshift cafeteria served its purpose.
“I think it went just fine for how quick we had to make a decision. It was just a flash for me. I felt like everyone pulled together, and I didn’t have any students complaining, which was nice,” Chandler said. “Everyone was pretty positive that came through the line that I saw. There’s going to be things like that that happen in life…and I think it went pretty dang smooth.”
Currently, there is no confirmation as to when the pipe in the commons will be fixed, but Waldeck relayed in the Skyward message that “the school district’s facilities department will make the necessary repairs throughout the day and evening hours with the intention [of] resuming normal lunch routines as quickly as possible.”
