The discovery of a water main break this morning at Wolf Lake Middle School prompted faculty at that school and neighboring Wolf Lake Elementary School to notify parents to pick up their children early today, August 22.
As a result of the water main break, Orange County Public Schools’ (OCPS) facilities department, in coordination with an outside contractor, shut down the water service, which also shut down both schools’ air conditioning systems because water is needed to run their chillers.
According to both schools’ Master Principal Caroll Grimando, 3,000 water bottles were transported to Wolf Lake Middle School, as well as portable restroom stalls. Fans were also set up in classrooms. The school system’s automated telephoning network called parents to get their children at an early time.
Wolf Lake Elementary School students were moved from the main building to the air-conditioned portable classrooms.
The estimated repair time of the water main system is the following morning, Tuesday, August 23, according to Grimando.
Once the water system is repaired, it would take 48 hours to test the water purity, Grimando said. In the meantime, Wolf Lake Middle School will use bottled water for drinking and cooking.
Scott Sherrer, a father of one Wolf Lake Elementary School student and one Wolf Lake Middle School student, called the situation “crazy.” As an engineer, he said he knows the air conditioner’s chiller is computer-operated around the clock, every day. Therefore, any mishaps that occur in the mechanism would set alerts off.
What’s more, the water main break happened over the weekend and resulted in a flooding, “from what I was told,” Sherrer said.
“How this goes through a 24-hour cycle and no one is notified is beyond understanding,” he said.
Since this is breaking news, more details will be added to this story.
Update: Water, A/C malfunction at two Apopka-area schools
