FILE PHOTODerby High School was closed Monday because of “severe” flooding, according to messages from principal Greg Galliard.

Rain water entered the building through a section of a recently-installed roof.

The high school had a new roof installed over the summer, one of three school buildings in the district to receive new roofs.

That installation is still finishing up.

Below are Tweets from the principal and Jim Gildea, a member of the Derby Board of Education:



In a post on Facebook, Rob Hyder, a member of the Derby school roof building committee, said the roof began leaking over the cafeteria in the high school during Monday’s heavy rain.

The school roof building committee was formed by the city to oversee the $5 million, three-school roof project.

Hyder said the “concentrated” leak was in an area where the roof company had yet to finish installing flashing, a material that helps to seal roofs.

Hyder indicated the severity of the leak was being blown out of proportion.

“There was water on the floor, and on the floor only. None of the kitchen appliances were wet and there was no water on any of the counter tops. The water was cleaned up before 7:30 a.m. this morning,” Hyder said.

“Should school have been cancelled today? Probably not, but you can make a case that because the leak was in the cafeteria, the school should have been closed for health reasons,” Hyder said.

3 replies on “Flooding Closes Derby High School”

  1. I just got off the phone with Dr. Conway. Apparently, there was some water on one of the counter tops, but none of the appliances were destroyed as was relayed to the committee from the facility’s manager. The water was cleaned up immediately, before what would have been the start of the school day.

    The facility’s manager is the one to deem the flooding “severe”, not Mr. Galliard.

Comments are closed.