The mess the snow day left
Brown water leaked from the roof into the third floor science wing
March 15, 2017
It’s the same story just a different day. Following the 11 inches of snow Gloucester received during yesterday’s snow storm, GHS seemed to get the brunt of it. Due to excess rain and snow, the roof of the high school once again cracked under the pressure leaving massive puddles in its wake.
The puddle just outside Mr. Enos and Mr. Anderson’s room was the worst. The giant leak spanned the entire upper level of the third floor science wing staircase. There was no way around it, forcing some students to jump it in order to make it to class on time.
“I didn’t really want to turn around, but I didn’t want to walk through the giant puddle either,” said senior Sam Cominelli who made the great leap. “It should’ve been cleaned up and it shouldn’t have been there.”
A small leak that has been in science teacher Mr. Anderson’s room for weeks also grew worse over the short break. Students walking into his room this morning were greeted by a river of brown, murky water flowing throughout his room.
The flowing stream and expanding puddle were eventually cleaned up by janitors, but not until the second block of the day.
While the inside of GHS faced a small amount of chaos, outside it was just as hectic. The citywide parking ban that was implemented during the storm was not lifted until 7am – which also happens to be the same time many staff members and students begin arriving at school.
While Gloucester police officers and tow trucks were removing cars not relocated by 7am in order to plow the parking lot, many students were trying to maneuver around them in order to park.
“It was really crazy going in. There were two police cars, a tow truck, which was hauling a car onto it, and three plows alongside cars that didn’t belong to students. A lot of the spaces were iced over with snow, it was just hectic,” said senior Lauren Benchoff. “A policeman was also pushing a car while someone was trying to drive it because the car was stuck in the snow.”
While the New England weather may be partially to blame for GHS’s continuous leakages, the fact that the building will turn 78 years old this year does not help.
*Correction: While the Gloucester City parking ban was lifted at 8pm on 3/14/17, residents were allowed to leave their cars in the parking lot until 7am.
Shannon Valle • Mar 15, 2017 at 8:40 pm
Such a sore site! GHS should have issued a delay so they could properly clean up that mess. Not only is it a mess but very unsafe! Someone could have been seriously injured. That issue definitely needs to be looked into. I remember my days at GHS rushing to get to class to make it before the bell rang & adding water on the floor to that is just disastrous! Also as stated in the comment before mine, parking ban was lifted 8pm last night so it shouldn’t have been that chaotic in the morning.
Jessica Linquata • Mar 15, 2017 at 7:05 pm
I agree this is absolutely horrible and should be addressed. However, there is a piece of wrong information in here. The parking ban was lifted last night at 8pm due to the lack of snow. People were notified via text, phone calls if you’re on the emergency. All list, and it was posted on Facebook as well. Just wanted to make that clear.