Have something to say about Northern Middle School?  Post it here!

Where is that soapbox?   oh... there it is...   ok.

Ahem...

In their seemingly never ending effort to save money at the expense of our children, the Guilford County Board of Education decided that it would be best to rush the process, create a school within a school, and transition the children mid year into a new facility.....

A NEW FACILITY THAT HAS NO CLEAN WATER

When we visited the school after it opened, Dr. Misher told parents that there was no water other than water for flushing, and assured us that the water permits were on the way and would arrive in a couple of days. 

We've waited and waited and still no water.  The cafeteria can not function, drinking water is being trucked in along with sandwiches (no hot lunches) from Kernodle, and perhaps the most appalling consequence is that the students and staff CAN NOT WASH THEIR HANDS!

Suuuure they're bringing in hand sanitizer by the bucketloads, but I'm sorry, maybe I'm old school, but to me, hand sanitizer is a handwashing SUPPLEMENT not a handwashing replacement! If a kid visits the restroom, for any reason, their hands need to be washed and they need to be reciting the blasted alphabet while washing....

Even bama would have to agree that it's just nasty.

Tonight on News 14 they reported that Northern Middle's Well System did not pass and they could not reapply for their permits for 1 year! 

Does this mean that we will not have water for a year???  No Hot Lunches??? Sandwiches prepared offsite and trucked in? Jugs of water and hand sanitizer purchased and trucked in? How much money did we save???

I'm proud of our new facility.  It's just beautiful.  I just don't understand what the rush was.

Maybe dmauser can shed some light on this whole water issue for me.  I'm sick about it.  What are they going to do???

off the soapbox. for now.

I forgot my soapbox.

I find it interesting that I have not heard one word about the permits on the Fox8 news this morning... Did anyone watch News 2?  Was there any coverage on that station?  We were watching the Time Warner news station last night and that's where we heard it. 

I think I'll just call Darlene today and find out what the deal is.

I emailed Darlene early this morning.  Waiting for her reply.  Maybe she can shed some light on the whole thing.

I'm going to go wash my hands.

Talked to Darlene.  She's just so nice. 

She said that from the info she could gather, the state approved the water at Northern for cooking and handwashing, but not for drinking.  The county people are the ones who have a problem with it.  Their reasoning is that if the water's not good enough to drink then it's not good enough to cook with....... Certainly makes sense to me.

So, they are flushing the system (which according to my water source, probably won't work) hoping to bring the levels of sulfates and the total dissolved solids to a passable level.  Then, their options evidently are to treat the water or dig a new well and hope that it is ok.

Water source says that the water probably isn't a health risk, but it most likely has an unpleasant odor.  Will have to ask my kid to sniff the water for me.

Darlene also stated that the civil engineer should have had these permits in place MONTHS ago and it wasn't done.  They'll certainly watch the water situation at the High School more closely....

You know... after talking to her I feel a little better.  At least she knows that someone is concerned and she's working hard to find out what's being done about it.  I feel like she really cares which is more than I can say about any of the other School Board members.

Meanwhile, my water source tells me that washing hands with this water is definitely better than not washing them at all. 

I think it's similar to washing up in the creek out back..... but at least it's something....

Yea bama, but those nurses at the hospital evidently worked for Guilford County Schools at one time or another because they come in the door, squirt some hand sanitizer to move the germs around and skip the hand washing part.  I've seen it myself, lots of times.  And they wonder why that virus is running rampant over at Cone.....

And yes, they are going to buy bottled watter for the kids to drink until they get it straightened out.

Definitely not surprised.