Repairs to Cresskill school flooded by Ida are almost done
CRESSKILL — A year and a half after rainwater from the remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded and destroyed much of the district's middle and high school, students will once again have full use of the facility within the month.
"We anticipate our media center and auditorium opening for student use within a month. While some items are impacted by the supply chain, we are getting key deliveries of furniture now," the school district's Twitter account reads.
"With the auditorium, if all goes to plan, our drama will be on our own stage the very next week after getting a certificate of occupancy," said Superintendent Peter Hughes.
Students returned to the school's newly refurbished classrooms in September after a year of learning remotely or at a nearby private school, after Ida brought heavy winds and heavy rain to the area in August 2021. The wind and rain wreaked havoc on the middle and high school building, which sits in a flood zone on Lincoln Drive. Several feet of water rose above the auditorium stage, destroying it and the gymnasium, the media center, desks and chairs.
On Wednesday, the installation of seats in the auditorium was completed. The next performance will be the first in the building since the winter of 2020, Hughes said.
The repair work is being paid for through a $21.6 million spending proposal overwhelmingly approved by borough voters in January 2022.
Before repairs were completed, and as students learned remotely or in nearby facilities, parents of the 1,000 children formed the group Get Cresskill Kids Back to School and took their fight to Trenton in December 2021, trying to get the governor's office to speed up the process.
"We are racing against the clock to make this special event happen for our students, and we are all excited about finally having the arts again within the school," Hughes said.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ida-damaged Cresskill school repairs near completion
