After a waterline break at Pine Middle School flooded nearly the entire first floor, Washoe County school officials are scrambling to come up with a contingency plan. Reno Public Radio's Julia Ritchey reports.
Maintenance crews discovered that a 4-inch valve disconnected above the cafeteria on Saturday, inundating the school with water while students were out on holiday break.
Chief facilities management officer Christopher Cobb listed the damages.
"Buckled floors ... you have tile throughout the building that's all popping. Those are old tiles, old materials where they used to be asbestos containing, so you have to do all the restoration under abatement and containment. So 95 percent of the flooring in this school will have to be redone."
The district is waiting to hear from its contractor on exactly how long that will take and how much it will cost — likely several hundred thousand dollars.
Superintendent Traci Davis:
"By midweek, we will have a contingency plan as we are currently working on looking at the assessment and how much time it will take."
About 1,000 students are enrolled at Pine Middle. They were due back Jan. 11 but Davis says they may delay classes for an extra week.
