By:Andrew Coen
During the Jan. 13 school board meeting at Lawrence Middle School, Donato stressed the need to immediately replace or repair the fire escapes at the Cedarhurst school, after a recent inspection showed them to be very dangerous. Donato said it would cost $550,000 to replace the fire escapes.
It-s a matter of, in my judgment, almost immediate action required on the part of the board to assure the safety and health of the children in case of a fire at the Number Five School, said Donato, who will step down on Feb. 1 as interim assistant superintendent and be replaced by Deirdre Gambino.
Annual visual-inspection reports were completed by an architect, a code-enforcement officer and a fire inspector last fall, and the school was given a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), but the fire marshal said the fire escapes are in less than satisfactory condition, have a maximum three-year life span and must be taken care of soon, according to Donato.
That means that if the Board of Education does not take action [in the near] future, we stand a chance of the fire marshal coming in and saying, ÔWe are not giving you a CO for those fire escapes,- said Donato.
The denial of a CO would mean the building could not be occupied until the problem was corrected.
Donato recommended that school board members closely inspect the fire escapes to see for themselves the kind of dangerous condition they-re in. Walk up and down them, run your hand along the railing, but be careful, because if you hold onto any one of those railings, you-re going to have splinters all along your hands, he said. The support mechanism on the bottom is starting to give way, the panels on the sides have been welded and re-welded and re-welded and are at a point of great jeopardy [to students and staff].
According to Donato, the architect who inspected the building said that even repairing the fire escapes may not be such a good idea, because the building is 78 years old.
School Board member Dr. David Sussman said that since the situation is so serious, the board should consider re-directing the $250,000 set aside for air-conditioning at the Number Two School in Inwood to repairs at the Number Five School. If indeed this is as serious as I-m hearing and we have money sitting for air-conditioning, I hate to be a Grinch, but we-ll approach the air-conditioning some other time, said Dr. Sussman.
Donato said he will meet with the auditor about the $250,000 to see if that money can be re-directed. If we get the OK from the auditor, we-re going to come back and recommend that we go ahead with that fire escape [repair], said Lawrence Public Schools Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons.
In addition to the $250,000 set aside for the air-conditioning at the Number Two School, an additional $250,000, which was earmarked for phase two of the school-s heating and air-conditioning project, is uncommitted and could also be used for the fire escapes, which would cover $500,000 of the $550,000 cost of repairing them.
The district considered closing the Number Five School under a redistricting plan early last year, but the plan drew outrage from parents and students and the district backed off the proposal.
The next Lawrence school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 27, at 8 p.m. at the Lawrence Middle School.
