Friday, January 9, 2015

Deja Vu? Sprinklers Rain Down Again on Hinsdale Middle School.

What the heck is going on at Hinsdale Middle School?  Is it jinxed in some way? One year to the day after last year's second burst pipe at HMS, a "sprinkler head" malfunctioned last night in Room 215, spraying that room and five others with an undetermined amount of water for at least 15 minutes.

At least that is the information HMS parents were provided this morning at 6 a.m. in an email the district sent them. The text of that email reads:

"Dear Parents,

On Thursday evening, 1-8-15, at approximately 9:30 p.m., a sprinkler head failed in room 215.  The Hinsdale Fire Department responded to the alarm and shut the water off within 15 minutes. (The amount of water released was far less than last year.) The water damage was limited to 5 rooms due to the fire department and building staff working quickly to contain and begin cleaning up the water.  The Hinsdale Fire Department has given us permission to have school on Friday so district staff will be working throughout the night to have the building ready for the morning.

There is a possibility that some of the rooms may be missing ceiling tiles or baseboards will have been "pulled" to allow the walls to thoroughly dry.  We will have fans running to maintain good airflow and will secure dehumidifiers to aid in the drying.
  
Dr. White has had numerous conversations with myself and the Building and Grounds Director, Mike Vilendrer  throughout the night so he could have a thorough understanding of the events and stay updated on the progress.  Before students arrive in the morning he will be assessing the building to see first hand the condition of the affected rooms.

I personally want to assure you that maintaining a safe and secure learning environment is of the utmost importance to myself and all of the staff of Hinsdale Middle School.  We thank you for your support and your flexibility as we quickly resolve this issue.
  
Sincerely,
Ruben Pena"

The community deserves answers and FAST! Why did the sprinkler head fail? What specific rooms were compromised? Were they the same "sick" rooms that were infested with mold last year? Will the clean up ensure that no new mold begins growing behind the dry wall in those five rooms? What will it cost this time to fix the new mess? 

Below, we are providing our readers with links to the posts we published last year during the HMS Pipe Bursting/Mold Crisis. You can read them to refresh your memories on the rooms that were damaged and infested with mold. They will also remind you that one of the biggest problems last year was poor communication to parents, teachers and the community about the true nature of what was happening at HMS. Let's hope that Dr. White and his new operations and maintenance administrators shine a very bright beacon of light on this whole situation, rather than try and shutter it in a dark (and wet) room the way Dr. Schuster and Board President Turek did last year...

In addition, we are copying below the comments we have received so far on this new situation.

Links to last year's posts:


Comments:


Anonymous said...
Funny you bring up the "water intrusion event;" a pipe at HMS in room 215 (a sixth grade science room) burst. I don't know the extent of damage to room 215, but there was some water leakage into 213, 214, 216, a closet by 216 and the MRC. So far, it looks like all classes will stay in place, but we'll see.
HMS Parent said...
Here is an email we (parents with kids at HMS) received early this morning. Bloggers, can you start a new post on this latest HMS issue?

Dear Parents,
On Thursday evening, 1-8-15, at approximately 9:30 p.m., a sprinkler head failed in room 215. The Hinsdale Fire Department responded to the alarm and shut the water off within 15 minutes. (The amount of water released was far less than last year.) The water damage was limited to 5 rooms due to the fire department and building staff working quickly to contain and begin cleaning up the water. The Hinsdale Fire Department has given us permission to have school on Friday so district staff will be working throughout the night to have the building ready for the morning.
There is a possibility that some of the rooms may be missing ceiling tiles or baseboards will have been "pulled" to allow the walls to thoroughly dry. We will have fans running to maintain good airflow and will secure dehumidifiers to aid in the drying.
Dr. White has had numerous conversations with myself and the Building and Grounds Director, Mike Vilendrer throughout the night so he could have a thorough understanding of the events and stay updated on the progress. Before students arrive in the morning he will be assessing the building to see first hand the condition of the affected rooms.
I personally want to assure you that maintaining a safe and secure learning environment is of the utmost importance to myself and all of the staff of Hinsdale Middle School. We thank you for your support and your flexibility as we quickly resolve this issue.
Sincerely,
Ruben Pena
Anonymous said...
Wasn't that the same science classroom that was completely renovated after the water event last year? I hate throwing good money after bad.
Anonymous said...
At that same January 13, 2014 BOE meeting where the 2 teachers outed the HMS mold situation, one of the teachers said that a high level administration official came into the building and said there was no mold in the building because she has a sensitive nose and she would have smelled it. It was obvious to everyone in the room that the high level official was Dr. Schuster - obvious to everyone, that is, except Mr. Turek. Mr. Turek turned to Dr. Schuster after the teacher's brave remarks and commented that only senior level officials should be allowed to make public statements about the building and staffers should be instructed accordingly. 

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://hinsdale.chicagotribune.com/2015/01/09/another-water-leak-hinsdale-middle-school/

Anonymous said...

Great that the HMS parents received an email, but what about the rest of the taxpaying community?

Anonymous said...

Does Don White think sending and email at 6am from the HMS principal is an acceptable way to communicate this serious flood situation? Give us a break.
And don't we have more highly paid administrators from Troy who are supposed to be overseeing buildings?
Looks like weak-kneed poor leadership all over again, and I thought we had seen the last of it with Schuster.

Anonymous said...

Hey Gary Clarin!
Are you going to rush on over and lend your "expertise" in yet another HMS flood? I thought you commended the work that was done on the HMS repairs and said the building was like new? Sorry, you were wrong.
Better get over the apparent bromance you are having with yet another administration that can do no wrong in your eyes. Someone dropped the ball big time on this one.

Anonymous said...

I think people are being rather harsh toward the current administration concerning this recent water incident at HMS. As a very long term D181 community member and member of the D181 Facilities Committee, what this current situation reinforces to me is that no matter how D181 attempts to rectify the situations ( and they are many and varied) at HMS, unfortunately, HMS is a severely damaged, dysfunctional structure and serious consideration needs to be given to replacing it. I can assure the D181 community that the current administration, unlike the previous administration, is genuinely attempting to address the facility needs in the district, especially HMS. There is a thorough analysis of all district facilities currently being finalized by Wight and Company, a local structural engineering firm. The Wight and Co. report will be presented to the Facilities Comm. in Feb. I am sure the situation at HMS will be focused on at that Feb. meeting. I sincerely hope that the D181 community will allow the process to evaluated our facilities to continue and will be supportive in the conclusions and actions recommended. In my opinion as a 28 year resident of D181, it is way past time to address the HMS situation. Our community needs to reflect on how we value our students' education and what educational legacy we wish to project.

jay_wick said...

I also consider myself a long term community member, having lived in the district for the past 19 years. Prior to that I grew up in Oak Brook and am very familiar with the sorts of renovations that have updated HMS; the Oak Brook Village Hall was built in a similar era and renovations / additions have been performed on it over the years. There is no talk of demolishing that structure.

The fact is none of these problems with freezing sprinklers happened until after the ill-advised decision to use the over-priced services of Chevron Energy Solutions. The whole way that "energy performance contracting" is setup in Illinois is a shameful demonstration of why such efforts at end-runs around normal competitive bidding should be avoided.

When the district contracted with Chevron for the modifications to the HVAC at HMS I immediately called for the BOE to ask for guarantees that the district would actually save money. Chevron was unable to agree to that and has since left the business.

The facts is the HVAC plant and weather-sealing upgrades installed at HMS for some $5M are still nearly new by commercial standards and along with the improvements to the roof, gutters and downspouts completed just this past summer there should be no rush to demolish HMS.

I too look forward to reviewing the facilities report being prepared by the district's consultants. I have little doubt that there will be no support for the the gold-plated $65M option that includes fantasy items long on the list of those that wish to redevelop downtown Hinsdale with a parking garage.
These links might be helpful to jog folk's memory for who might be in favor of such things -- Hinsdale Village Board Minutes 09-16-08 and Hinsdale Village Board Minutes 02-19-08

The BOE under its current titular has simply not made accountability a priority. The same pattern of lackadaisical oversight is evident in too many areas. When folks do not take the time to thoroughly review the suggestions of outside consultants and do not hold staff to high standards there will be substandard work and declining performance.

The district must reject the incumbent and use the April election to restore accountability in D181.

Anonymous said...

The key question is why did the sprinklers go off? This is not a normal event and should not happen.

jay_wick said...

It is true, properly maintained fire sprinklers should not freeze.

Here is nice concise list from Colorado Springs about what sound be checked -- Preventing Fire Sprinkler Freezing

Seems straightforward -- "A physical inspection of all buildings and areas protected by fire sprinklers must be conducted before the cold weather season arrives. The inspection must insure that there are no areas with insufficient heat and that physical features and precautions are in place to insure that sprinkler systems are not exposed to freezing temperatures."

I wonder if this was done?

Anonymous said...

In addition to currently evaluating the structural integrity of HMS, an educational adequacy analysis of all district facilities is also being conducted. HMS, a building constructed in the early '70's that has experienced many reconfigurations due to changes in educational delivery and the addition of a complete grade level, may not be able to continue to be successfully redesigned and altered to suit 21st century educational delivery. However, I have grave concerns as to whether the D181 community should consider replacing HMS based on the district's current educational approach, Learning For All. The LFA approach should first be confirmed as the appropriate educational approach for D181 before anything else goes forward. I hope this will happen soon, but seriously doubt if it will until after April's BOE election.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the previous comment. Until improvements are made in curriculum and the philosophy is clearly defined by competent administrators (which is currently not the case) then a new middle school is out of the question. LFA is just lip service at this point. If it weren't for tutoring after school provided by parents, our children would be more unprepared for the rigors of Hinsdale Central.
Isn't Kurt Schneider supposed to prepare a presentation for the BOE that explains his LFA philosophy and its supposed effectiveness?
Good luck explaining that one.

jay_wick said...

Here's a sample of what a well-qualified architectural firm might include with an "educational facilities adequacy report"--

Sample Assessment| BrainSpaces.com

The first part includes a subjective / community tailored kind of "mission statement" such as : "A good learning environment...
• Reflects a clear understanding of how people learn,
• Reflects the values and ideals of the community,
• Is characterized by caring,
• Inspires hope (education symbolizes hope),
• Supports the desired learning experience,
• Allows for customization to meet the needs of specialized learning."


The second part of the report would then have options to address the issues such as :


"Educational Adequacy:
Using collected data to plan appropriate actions range of typical actions:
level 1: 
do nothing
level 2: 
technical renovations to address deferred maintenance
level 3: modernization & reconfigurations to address educational adequacy
level 4:  level 3 + additions to address current/future educational issues
level 5: build new facilities


It is my fear that given the potential scope of the likely suggestions there has been insufficient effort on both the first phase of the assessment as well as inadequate communication of the broader implications that the potential changes would have for all stake holders in the various communities served by D181.

It is my firm hope that any decisions about additional expenditures would not happen until the expired board is replaced in the April elections.

Anonymous said...

The L4A report will either be a dump out of Capper and Frattura or similar to whatever Schneider did in his old school district in Wisconsin. It will be manipulated to include his message. This is not what all parents want, one teacher addressing everyone's needs. We also don't want all kids in the same classroom all of the time. If they go out for music, pe, they can change rooms twice a day for subject specific instruction. ALL kids should get the attention they need. I don't like co-teaching. It's like having two pilots fly the plane. Should we get two superintendents too... I know off the wall, that is what this inclusive nonsense is...