Tuesday, May 19 at noon in the School District Office
— from the Orcas School Board —
A special meeting of the Orcas Island School District (OISD) will be held at the District Office at 557 School Road. The Board will then tour the recent flood damages and clean-up project at the Orcas Elementary Nellie S. Milton building, 611 School Rd. Eastsound.
Following the tour, the board may then vote to Approve Resolution 2015-03 Emergency Declaration, which follows below.
Resolution 2015-‐03 Emergency Declaration
WHEREAS, the Orcas Island School District has suffered a major, damaging flood event in the Nellie Milton Elementary School Building that has necessitated immediate, ongoing mitigation and repair in order to protect the health and safety of the students and staff, and to make possible the repair and reopening of the building in time for the start of the 2015-16 school year and;
WHEREAS, proceeding with critical mitigation and essential repairs in a manner designed to prevent further damage and potential health hazards and that, in addition, does not disrupt or delay the start of the 2015-16 school year, does not allow sufficient time to engage in the public bidding process normally prescribed for public works projects and;
WHEREAS, proceeding with the required work in the absence of such public bidding requires that the Orcas Island School District must declare an emergency through a signed board action, as per RCW 28A.335.190, part (6), and;
WHEREAS, Orcas Island School District is facing an imminent health and safety emergency at Orcas Elementary School Nellie S. Milton Building that has caused the disruption of school due to severe water damage and the danger of the development of conditions dangerous to health, caused by an accidental leak and;
WHEREAS, Orcas Island School District has received guidance from the Washington Schools Risk Management Pool that outlines the procedures to follow in the event of a large property loss, which recommends the declaration of an emergency in order to facilitate the necessary repairs in a timely fashion, and outlines Washington Schools Risk Management Pool’s coordination of the determination of both the scope and the cost of such repairs;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Orcas Island School District is declaring an Emergency at Orcas Elementary School’s Nellie S. Milton building, and is submitting the following pertinent information as Attachment ‘A’ to this resolution (see the following).
ATTACHMENT ‘A’
On Saturday and Sunday, May 9th and 10th, 2015, the spontaneous collapse of
a stack of storage bins in a locked closet on the second floor of the Orcas Elementary School caused a water leak that released approximately 10,000 gallons of water into the school building. The water spread across several rooms on the second floor, leaked through the floor and the ceiling below, ran down the stairs and down an adjacent elevator shaft, flooding several more rooms on the first floor.
By the time the leak was discovered, the water had penetrated the floor surface, seeped between the underlayment layers of the floor, underneath and behind the cabinetry, soaked the ceiling tiles, carpets, and wallboard, and damaged or destroyed other fixtures
and instructional supplies and materials.
The District immediately sought expert remediation and, over the course of several days, the situation was assessed by representatives of Washington Schools Risk Management Pool (the District’s insurance provider), ServPro (the mitigation experts that we contacted),
VeriClaim (an independent claim verification and adjustment contractor hired by Risk
Management), and Young & Associates (an independent building analysis firm).
All parties concluded that mitigation and repair had to move ahead without delay in order to prevent the potential development of mold. It was also determined that the work
had to begin immediately in order for it to be possible to complete the work in time for
the start of the 2015-‐16 school year.
The remediation work was authorized for the specific prevention of conditions that would be detrimental to the health of the students and faculty, and that could result in additional damage to the building and additional expense to the District.
Immediate action was also necessary to ensure that the lone elevator in the building would be operation for ADA compliance at the start of the school year. The repair and reconstruction of the instructional spaces was authorized to be contracted without a public bidding process, per RCW28A.335.190, part (6), due to the delay that would result
in having to engage in that process.
It was determined that doing so was in the public interest and in the interest of the educational program of the District.
Sounds like board is doing everything that has to be done to both recover the use of the building and make it safe to use after repairs and recovery. Good on ya!