Turns out a valve that wasn’t supposed to be shut off was — you guessed it — shut off, which caused the boiler to stop working at the high school Monday.
With temperatures in some classrooms in the low 40s, students were sent home.
A postmortem was held at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, where Rick Belden, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, said a low water sensor triggered the boiler’s shutdown.
Water had slowly evaporated or otherwise drained out of the closed boiler system, which triggered the sensor.
There’s supposed to be a setting that allows water back into the system for a refill. However, that setting was switched to “off,” school officials said.
“I have no idea why the valve would be shut off,” said school board member James Garofolo. “What would be the advantage of the valve being shut off?”
“I think I can answer that, in that there is no answer to that,” schools Superintendent MaryAnne Mascolo said.
School officials theorized that a veteran custodian, now retired, may have switched the valve to off.
The boiler was not damaged from Monday’s event. The students will not have to make up the missed day of classes.
