The following article, written by Crispin Kott, is reprinted from The Saugerties Times, 03-13-08  Trickle Down BOE Wants Explanation, No-charge Resolution for Leaky Roofs by Crispin Kott   The Saugerties Central School District has sprung a leak. At the regular board of education meeting last Tuesday, March 11, board vice president George Heidcamp presented a series of nearly 90 photographs detailing recent water damage in four schools. "Over the last several months there's been a lot of complaints about the leaking of the roofs," said Heidcamp, who toured the buildings with board president Donald Tucker Tuesday, February 19. Heidcamp said the damage in some of the photographs could lead to injuries to students, putting the district at risk of potential lawsuits. Heidcamp said he found water damage in three out of the four elementary schools (Riccardi was the only dry building), and in the Senior/Junior High campus, particularly the Junior High portion. Superintendent Richard Rhau took exception to some of the presentation, saying that if he'd been shown the photographs in advance, he could have come to the meeting with more information. Rhau and Craig Zandonella, project manager for U.W. Marx, the district's contractor for the ongoing building project, tried to put some of the damage into perspective, noting that some areas shown were not supposed to be done at this time and are still the responsibility of the contractors, not the district, and that some damage was caused not by construction, but a lack of maintenance. Heidcamp's presentation began with photos taken in the Junior High, including Principal Tom Averill's office. In the office, trash cans and plastic sheets cover a corner of the room. Another shot shows ceiling tiles are either missing or show moisture damage. The ceiling tiles represent something of a theme in these photos, including shots taken in hallways and the office. A shot of an adjacent roof taken from a window in a classroom on the second floor of the Junior High showed a flat surface covered almost entirely with water. In the center of the shot is an air conditioning unit Heidcamp said was a recent installation. The slideshow moved on to the Junior High gym, in which Heidcamp said water has damaged the new floor. "This one we should all be disturbed by," Heidcamp said. "Look at the ripples in it. Brand new floor. Three or four months old. It'll never flatten out again. I'd like a contractor to tell me it will." Heidcamp's presentation moved on to Cahill Elementary, where damage in a ground floor music room was reported, with the possible cause an issue with the roof two stories higher, running behind blackboards and through windows into the basement room. Heidcamp said a company called Weatherguard Roofing billed the district a total of $3,642.60 during 2006 for roof repair and carpet installation. "What we need to know is were they contacted?" said Heidcamp. "Are they coming? Who is going to pay for it? Are we going to sue them?" Heidcamp also said the district website's claim that the roof at Mount Marion Elementary was "complete" was inaccurate. "If it's complete, why is it still leaking?" Heidcamp asked. Photos taken at Mount Marion included water damages tiles in classrooms and hallways, as well as a sagging ceiling tile with a metal ventilation grate hanging over a student toilet. Heidcamp said the bathroom ceiling tile, as well as damage to the floor in the gymnasium and water spilling off the canopy outside the school's main entrance, could cause harm to students, leaving the district open to potential litigation. "What if it freezes?" Heidcamp asked about the flow of water off the canopy. "Kids fall. District gets sued." Heidcamp said the Mount Marion gym floor was damaged by a partial roof collapse on March 2, 2007, with the representative insurance company settling with the district for $118,446. Heidcamp questioned why the gym floor was still damaged, and why the school board wasn't notified of the recurring issues. "That floor was put in four years ago," Heidcamp said. "Brand new floor. I was told by the people of Mount Marion that when you dribble a ball there, it makes a dead sound. Who is going to pay for that? I'd like to know where the money is coming from. I think the gym should be shut down." Heidcamp also showed a picture of a portion of the floor where an inches-long piece of wood was missing, a sliver he said could have injured a student. "I'm only the vice president of the board," Heidcamp said, with a hint of sarcasm. "I didn't know about it." "It certainly was a comprehensive presentation that had some factual information in it," Rhau said.   Decades of neglect According to Rhau, the damages are the result of mismanagement. "We've had decades of maintenance neglect in the district," he said. "It can't be fixed overnight." Rhau added that some of the problems resulting from the rain and snow during the winter were due to the way some of the district's buildings were designed. "When you have flat roofs, even new ones, the opportunity is there for leakage," Rhau said. Richard Prinz, of the district's maintenance staff, said that some of the damage at Cahill was due to the location of the music room, in the ground floor of an old building. "The windows in that room are right at ground level there," Prinz said, adding that further water was penetrating through the masonry. "It's been an exceptional year with the water table." Rhau said Cahill was likely to have issues with water leaking through the masonry until the district re-pointed the deteriorating mortar. He added that Weatherguard has already been notified about the problems in the roof area, and that they were "on call" for when the weather finally breaks. Zandonella said that the roofs throughout the district are still in the process of being finished, adding that many of the issues addressed by Heidcamp would be cleared up prior to their actual completion, at which point their warranties go into effect. "We told you two months ago that the roofs weren't completed," Zandonella said. "Make no mistake: Your roof is not turned over to the district yet." According to Zandonella, the roof at Morse Elementary took top priority when the project began, followed by Mount Marion. Zandonella said that some of the issues at Mount Marion and elsewhere could be attributed to a lack of attention to roof storm drains. A drain on the Mount Marion roof was snaked last year, and among the detritus removed from it were six tennis balls. "You have to understand the maintenance issues with your roofs," Zandonella said. "Roof drains are only as good as they are kept clean. On your Mount Marion gym, those roof drains have been backing up for years." Trustee James Steinhilber questioned the original facilities improvement plan, specifically the need for the new media center addition at the High School when money could have been spent elsewhere. "It seems like it's never ending," Steinhilber said. "How could we build this addition and have all these repairs that need to be done?" Zandonella said as the project heads into the home stretch, even tougher decisions will have to be made, and he encouraged the board of education to be as involved as possible. Tucker said he wanted to make it clear that no one was questioning the dedication of the maintenance and custodial staff in the district, all of whom he said work "above and beyond" what is expected of them. He added that while the facilities project has seen its share of bumps, it's something he feels will work out in the end. "I believe we'll get there working together," Tucker said. The board will hold a special meeting at the Junior High cafeteria Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. to discuss the 2008-2009 budget. The next regular meeting will be Tuesday April 8 at the Morse school at 6:30 p.m.