BY PATRICIA KELLER
WEST MILFORD — Westbrook Elementary School students and staff have been temporarily relocated to alternate schools while the roofing project at the building continues.
They were informed via a message from West Milford Township Schools Interim Superintendent Anthony Riscica on Friday, Oct. 9, that they would be temporarily relocated beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 13, “In order to expedite the roof project at Westbrook and keep students and staff away from any odors caused by this work.” Riscica said they hoped to have the project completed by the end of the week.
The roof replacement project has been ongoing, being conducted on weekends when staff and students were not present at the school. Heavy rains, along with drains that were not ready to handle such heavy rainfall caused the closing of the school on Sept. 30 due to flooding, and delayed openings for the remainder of the week to accommodate flood remediation and repair efforts.
In light of this, and with winter weather quickly approaching, the district and roofing company decided to expedite the completion of the project during the week of Oct. 13-16. For safety reasons, including fumes and odors related to the process, the decision was made to relocate students and staff to alternate locations for the week.
Parents were instructed that all students were to take their regular assigned buses to Westbrook School at their regular scheduled time. Once students arrived at the school, the classes of students and teachers loaded buses to be transferred to an alternate nearby school based on their grade level. Kindergarten and third grades were sent to Maple Road Elementary School, first and second grades to Marshall Hill Elementary School, fourth graders to Apshawa Elementary School, and fifth and sixth graders were able to experience a preview of their future at Macopin Middle School.
The afternoon schedule for the return trip home followed the same plan - with staff and students transported back to Westbrook School, then boarded onto their regular assigned school buses home. Riscica said the return trip could be delayed up to 15 minutes.
"The extra time for students on the bus both going to and returning from the other schools is 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the location," said Riscica. "Fortunately we were able to have students placed in the schools closest to Westbrook School to make this work.”
Parents reactionParents of Westbrook Students were vocal about their feelings on the situation, but most who weren't happy with the situation did not want to comment publicly with their names.
One parent agreed to provide a statement only on condition of their anonymity:
“My kids are enjoying their ‘road trip’ to other schools; however, the children are losing valuable instructional time with the additional traveling," said the parent. "They are doing a lot of worksheets, so regular teaching and learning methods are being affected by this. With the delayed openings from the flooding caused by the roof project a couple of weeks ago, and now the later bus drop offs in the afternoons due to extra commuting time for the kids with having to take two separate buses twice each day, this is a huge inconvenience to parents; especially for working parents who need to make special arrangements for their children. It has also caused a lot of anxiety for some of the kids.”
Lisa DelVecchio, another Westbrook parent, said kids can learn by this situation.
“Life is about how you handle Plan B," said Lisa DelVecchio, another Westbrook parent. "It certainly isn't an ideal situation; however, the schools, administration, staff and parents are doing the best they can. I think it's a positive in teaching our kids how to roll with the punches. Life and work and daily life don't always go according to plan. I would much rather my child be bused to an offsite location and be safe than have to use days and not have school. My son says he is in the art room and is still coming home with his same homework as if he were in his normal classroom. It's all about how you handle the message and I think Ms. Somers sends a great message by labeling it an adventure. We, as parents, should also put a positive spin on it and handle it with grace. And extra kudos to the bus drivers. This can't be easy on them."
On Wednesday, Riscica told The Messenger that it should all be back to normal on Monday, with the project set to be completed by Thursday afternoon.
“If that is the case, our plan is to have students' and staff back at Westbrook School on Monday Oct. 19.”
What do you think? Go to westmilfordmessenger.com and tell us