PLATTEVILLE, Wis.- Over Christmas Eve and Day, a burst pipe poured water into Neal Wilkins Early Learning Center in Platteville, affecting 9 classrooms and destroying many supplies days before students return from break.
“It’s, it’s not supposed to look like this,” said kindergarten teacher Liz Weittenhiller, sifting through her now waterlogged classroom Friday.
“These books you see were all up on those shelves and they had about 2-5 in. of standing water in them,” she said, a pile of damp wrinkly books sitting on a cabinet.
“We expect kids to read for 30 minutes well we want to provide them with a comfortable space to do so,” she said, “the pillows and the ottomans and the rugs and those kinds of surfaces that unfortunately are not keepable, are not fixable at this point.”
Weittenhiller’s classroom was damaged the worst, ruining many of the supplies she paid for out of her own pocket, and the memories from students and families she’s touched over 17 years.
“I was holding it together super well until I came in and saw, a family from Belmont when I worked there they had knitted an octopus, a big octopus ottoman,” she said, “and it was in the garbage and I just lost it.”
“Those are the things that aren’t really replaceable, you can’t purchase that on Amazon – those are memories,” Weittenhiller said.
But now she has to focus on what she can replace, save, or buy new for he kindergartners next week. “We, really, honestly we don’t know what we need.”
According to Neal Wilkins Principal Tammy Haag, the water had been running through Christmas night and into the morning, when it was noticed by a maintenance worker.
“It was sitting in the library on the carpet, and they checked all the walls — so there are outside walls, inside walls that all need to be replaced,” Haag said.
“We want to make sure that everything gets taken out, everything’s sanitized, anything that’s wet like the insulation. Anything’s that’s touched the water like wood is no longer any good,” she said. “We don’t want any mold or anything so we want to make sure that’s taken care of.”
Originally, temporary classrooms inside Neal Wilkins’s multi-purpose rooms were supposed to be ready next week. “Yesterday at 2:00 p.m. I find out no, we can’t get the materials,” Haag said, “so we’re going to be building them next week so now we have to find a place next week for our kids.”
So once students return from break Tuesday, they will spend that week at Westview Elementary School across town, bussed to and from Neal Wilkins so parents have the same drop off and pickup locations.
Then they’ll move to the temporary classrooms for the next 7 weeks. “We want to keep as much consistency in their lives as we can,” Haag said. “I think they’ll love going to a new place, they’ll think of it as a cool field trip.”
Weittenhiller agrees, but is a bit nervous for some of her students. “There are students I think that rely on routine and just are kind of starting to feel safe and comfortable in this classroom and starting to open up and those are the ones you kind of worry about a little bit.”
But she’s optimistic her bright young minds will be ok. “We will overcome this they will, it will just be a story to tell.”
She said so far, she’s received tons of outreach and support. Haag said they have gotten 3 boxes of books. “It just makes us a tighter-knit community because people are trying to help and want to help.”
“Teachers from near and far have reached out too and that’s so awesome,” Weittenhiller said.
The best way to help, they say, is Amazon or Walmart gift cards, so teachers can purchase what they need when they have time and a place to store it.
Weittenhiller said she’s been touched by the community stepping up to help her stay above water.
“I think everybody kind of has our back and kind of knows and understands how much time it takes to rebuild a classroom,” she said.
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