Moretown Elementary School will reopen Jan. 2

December 29, 2023  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Families with students at Moretown Elementary School were notified on Wednesday that their school will be ready to reopen on Tuesday, Jan. 2, following the holiday break.

The school closed on Monday, Dec. 18, as floodwaters entered the building, damaging the school’s furnaces and spreading throughout the first floor classrooms, offices and corridors. Students were sent home early, barely an hour into their school day. 

Students and their teachers returned on Dec. 20 with the rest of the Harwood district but they spent the final three days before the holiday break on field trips and not in their building. 

On Wednesday, school district Superintendent Mike Leichliter said work at the school has progressed to the point where the building will be ready for classes to resume next week. He and Principal Kate Liptak shared details with families in an email message saying, “One of our boilers is fully operational and will be able to heat our building for the next few weeks while our second boiler receives the necessary work for it to become operational.”

Midweek, it appeared that some classrooms and first-floor areas would not have permanent flooring soon. Leichliter explained in an email to Waterbury Roundabout that in some sections of the first floor, water-damaged carpeting and floor tiles had to be pulled up. “Therefore, we have some areas where we will be putting down area rugs over concrete until we can get new flooring,” he said.

The email to families initially said, “Our building will be operating with temporary flooring until more permanent flooring can be secured.”

But, by Friday, that problem also seemed to be near resolution. Principal Liptak shared an update at the end of the week saying, “There were enough [floor] tiles from around the district that we are able to permanently provide classrooms with flooring.  With the exception of a few tiles in front of doorways and the main hallways, classrooms will be fully floored prior to the return of students on Tuesday.”

The administrators thanked Harwood Director of Maintenance and Operations Ray Daigle and Moretown Facility Director Greg Wagner for their efforts since the 18th. “Ray and Greg have been working tirelessly in order to coordinate work with contractors to both clean and restore the building so it is fully functional for teaching and learning,” they said. 

Moretown Elementary School serves 170 students from preschool through sixth grade. 

Leichliter and Liptak thanked parents, guardians and community members for their support and understanding since the flooding emergency took place. “Moretown is a special community and we have been overwhelmed with the care and concern expressed by so many. Thank you for your flexibility over the past week,” they wrote. 

On the heels of the upheaval at the school, the Moretown PTO has launched an online fundraiser to help defray the cost of the field trips for students during the last week of school before break and after the flooding. The effort lists a goal of $6,000, presumably to reimburse the school district for the unexpected costs for the Dec. 20-21 outings for the K-6 grade students. 

It was not clear from the administration, however, what those expenses totaled and if there was any funding reimbursement anticipated for them. The fundraiser as of Friday afternoon had reached $956 with donations from 12 individuals.