Tuesday Classes Canceled At Edmond North High School

It will be one more day before students are allowed back to Edmond North High School after a water main break flooded the main campus.

School staff are asked to report at 8 a.m. Tuesday to the media center for a meeting.

All evening activities and practices will go on as scheduled.

The cleanup began Saturday night, after someone passing by the school noticed water flowing out the front doors and contacted police.

9/6/2015 Related Story: Water Main Breaks At Edmond North High School 

Restoration and maintenance crews have been working fast and furious since Saturday night, cleaning up mud and drying out classrooms, hallways and most of the common areas.

They even had to remove some of the carpets that got soaked during this massive water main break.

“Some of the crew members have not slept, some have had just a few hours of sleep,” Edmond Public Schools spokeswoman Susan Parks Schlepp said. “They have pretty much been on site 24/7.”

In all, 20 classrooms, the main office, cafeteria and main computer server were affected.

“It is functioning. It is limping along, but we don't know about individual work stations and what kind of issues there could be for teachers when they come in later this week,” Schlepp said.

Crews brought in 176 fans, 71 dehumidifiers, and 12 air scrubbers to try to dry out the campus.

They also had to disinfect every area touched by the muddy, messy water.

The biggest problem the district is facing now is whether there will be any running water available to the high school.

If not, that would mean the restrooms in the central part of the campus would have to remain closed.

“We have plenty of restrooms here at Edmond North, but they are on the far east or the far western sides,” Schlepp said. “As you can imagine, getting 2,650 students to just a few restrooms on the far sides of the building is very, very difficult.

Now, it could be days, even weeks, before all of the repairs are made to the main cafeteria where the water main break occurred.

Over at the freshman academy, which is a separate building, there is a separate kitchen and cafeteria.

In a worst case scenario, students and faculty can get served and fed in the freshman academy's cafeteria until the main kitchen and cafeteria are cleared to open.