WPCNR School Days. By John F. Bailey. October 16, 2006 UPDATED WITH TOUR PICTURES 11:53 A.M. E.D.T. More Pictures Added 12:15 P.M. E.D.T. UPDATED WITH ENROLLMENT GROWTH CHART 6:00 P.M. E.D.T.:  Citizens attending a tour of Post Road School, hosted by the School District learned Saturday that flooding into the lowest level of the school below grade, was cited as a main reason why the school needs replacing, but when questioned, the Administrator of Facilities and Operations for the district, Mike Lynch said the flooding has been going on in Post Road School for at least 15 years.  A spokesperson for Westchester County Department of Communications today said that neither the County Department of Public Works nor the Environmental offices had ever been notified of this problem by the School District.  The City Department of Public Works Commissioner has not been made available to comment on the condition of the city storm drains.

Timothy Connors, Superintendent of Schools, leading a Post Road Autopsy Saturday morning. Mike Lynch, Administrator of Buildings and Facilities explains that city storm drains on Sterling and Soundview Avenues backup into the Post Road ground floor -- five times in the last year. Photo, WPCNR News.

The Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors, the architect  Erik Kaeyer of Kaeyer, Garment & Davidson, and construction manager, Nicholas Andreadis of Triton Construction answered questions from less than 10 citizens on the condition of the school, the estimates of construction. Then attendees were taken on a tour of the building.

City, County Storm Drains Backup Flooding school for years.

The flooding Lynch told the group comes from the city storm water drains running down Sterling and Soundview Avenues, and from the County storm water drains on Post Road. Because the school is located at the foot of the hill, the overflow backs up and bubbles up into the boilerroom, first floor classrooms, and even through the water fountain drains. 

Cracks and corrossion at base of wall and floor on Post Road first floor hall, adjacent boiler room. Photo, WPCNR News.

Room 7 -- adjacent to the boiler room, wall on Sterling Avenue side leaks at base and at windows when storm drains cannot handle the flow. All storage, the instructor says is to the center of the room as  a result. Photo, WPCNR News

Lynch told this reporter that nothing has been done by either the city or the county to fix the overflow problem in the fifteen years he has been in charge of buildings for the district. The school district has not undertaken any major fixes to relieve the flooding condition either.  In the hour and a half briefing, questions were raised primarily about the estimating of the project.

Cramped Boilerroom makes repairs to pipes very difficult. Storm water backs up into the room out into the halls. Photo, WPCNR News.  

Replacement of school Due to Rising Enrollment by 2010

The Superintendent said that the need to replace Post Road school comes from the addition of 280 students (based on 2005 birthrates), expected to join the district in the year 2010. The additional building of 6 extra classrooms in the new school will bring the capacity of Post Road School up to 600, (currently  Post Road serves approximately 493 students) on a level of the other five district elementaries (in addition to 9 more classrooms which will be leased to BOCES), otherwise he said class sizes would increase. The physical layout of the school was also deemed inadequate and crowded.

Enrollment Chart Comparisons showing how Post Road School presently compares to the other White Plains schools in number students and project enrollment as of 2010. Chart was presented to the public prior to the tour. Photo by WPCNR News.

The Tour

As the tour began Superintendent Connors drew the crowd attention to the narrow hallways, the cramped staircases as being not wide enough to accommodate the elementary school children, and particularly disabled students, (no ramps).  He showed the small classroom dimensions that have existed at Post Road School since 1914, that the architect and the school district agree are too small and no longer adequate.

Connors Starts the Tour. Notes narrow hallways. Photo, WPCNR News

Narrow Stairs -- Not Handicapped Accessible -- are obsolete -- causing crowded, unsafe conditions. Photo, WPCNR News

Narrow hallway with students expected to hang coats, backpacks on hooks in corridor, as there is no room for cubby space in the smaller classrooms. Waterfountains back up during heavy rains. Photo, WPCNR News.

The library was described as too small, and unnavigable for disabled students, it being split between two floors without an elevator, while lacking storage space. There was also a limited number of computer stations. The library does not provide the media center spaciousness that school libraries today need to accommodate the new information age adequately.

The Post Road Library, lower level. Superintendent Connors explains the limited space the library provides for book storage and media center layout. Photo, WPCNR News.

Library Reverse Angle from upstairs level, showing what the district feels is limited book space and areas for students.  Note bucket for catching ceiling leaks directly above the genetleman in the red sweater. Photo, WPCNR News.

The Library Upstairs. A drawback, according to the superintendent is lack of workstation space as well as lack of handicapped access to the second floor. Photo, WPCNR News.

The computer lab had a lot of computers  jam-packed into its claustrophobic “square” room. Computer terminals were touching one another and students, when seated would be elbow-to-elbow. The computer information teacher explained how the cramped computer staging, restricted his ability to move from computer station to computer station quickly due to the close configuration of the seating.

Jampacked Computer Lab, makes maneuvering of students and teachers difficult, according to Computer Lab Instructors shown at right. Room, based on WPCNR experience is claustrophobic. Photo, WPCNR News

The auditorium was another area that was pointed out as being too small to accommodate the entire school population of 493 students (as of September). It appeared to this reporter more of a setting than a performance center. The superintendent pointed out the coffin-like teacher workroom space that has to serve all the faculty.

Auditorium, inadequate for school population of close to 500 children, according to the Superindent of Schools (Center of Picture). Photo, WPCNR News

Christian Reyes, the head custodian  at Post Road School was saluted by Superintendent of Schools Connors for keeping the school looking excellent despite his never-ending battle with flooding from the city and county sewers. Mr. Reyes has done a superb job because the school on Saturday morning looked bright a cheery despite its cracks on the joints of the ground floor. There were no odors and the classrooms I saw were brightly lit, but jam-packed with “stuff.”

Christian Reyes, Head Custodian of Post Road School, the man with the difficult job of keeping Post Road School looking as clean as it does, despite coping with floods, mildew, and collateral damage. Photo, WPCNR News.

The Chronic Flooding.

Mr. Connors upon entering the ground level of the school turned the tour of the subterranean depths of Post Road School to Michael Lynch, who said “The storm sewers hit us this building hard. The storm drains back up. Once last month and four times in the last year.” Because of the chronic funding, Lynch said the school custodial staff is routinely treating the ground floor for “cracks and mold.” Lynch said the storm water drain back up is so serious, the water fountain drains backup. The water fountains at Post Road School, according to the custodian, Mr. Reyes, the fountains drain into the city storm water drains. He also said that during a really heavy storm the sanitary sewers back up too into the toilets. “We have trouble with those, too,” he said.

A Post Road teacher, showing off her ground floor level classroom (Room 7), adjacent to the boiler room mentioned how her classroom floods at the windows and through the wall at the base of the class room where wall meets floor, from the storm drain backups. Lynch, showing the boiler room said the boiler room is very small, making pipe replacements difficult, causing repairmen to stand on existing pipes to make repairs in some cases. He showed a sump pump installed to take care of the chronic flooding with a trip switch that triggers the sump pump, when water reaches the tripper.

In courtyard, between Post Road main building and cafeteria/Gymnasium, storm drain backup freezes in winter perpetually creating ice conditions. Reyes said the school put in a drain to prevent the water collecting, but it has not worked.  Photo, WPCNR News.

 Flooding is more serious on the Sterling Avenue side, as opposed to the Soundview side, Lynch said. Asked afterwards how long the flooding condition had existed, Lynch said, the flooding was happening fifteen years ago when he joined the School district.

WPCNR has placed a call to the Mayor’s Office to get Commissioner of Public Works, Joseph Nicoletti’s reaction on the alleged storm drain situation affecting the Post Road School, and contacted the Westchester County Department of Communications to get the county reaction as to why the Post Road  storm water sewers which the School District pointed out are the county responsibility, backup, and if the School District has ever asked for them to address the problem by increasing storm water drain capacities.

Donna Greene spokesperson for the Westchester County Department of Communications responded to WPCNR's question this afternoon, writing,

Post Road School Saturday Morning. Photo, WPCNR News