Today's flood—will the chancellor help?

Hours after the lower-floor classrooms of P.S. 9 were flooded with inches of water, Ms. D'Avilar spoke about the situation at tonight's P.T.O. meeting. Flooding has been a problem since she arrived at the school 7 years ago, she said, but called today's deluge the worst that she has seen here. Water came into every door of the school's courtyard, she said. Also:

•Flooding is caused partly by wrongly installed pipes that send water toward the school instead of away from it. These faulty pipes are both under Underhill Ave. and in the playground.

•A cleanup crew tonight is cleaning, disinfecting and testing the air in the affected classrooms. Principal D'Avilar will receive a report Wednesday morning around 6:30 a.m., and decide on next steps, including where to locate classes for the day. She will send out an email blast to parents about the situation in the a.m. after reviewing the report. Parents will also be able to read the report in the main office, the principal said.

•The new playground plans did not include fixing the faulty-pipes problem. Principal D'Avilar believes that news coverage and the thousands of dollars worth of damage has caught Chancellor Klein's attention. She interprets the quick arrival of the cleanup crew as a positive sign, and has indications that the DOE will pay for the replacement of rugs and tiles (but probably not books). Has the flood made enough of an impression that the School Construction Authority will revise the playground plans? And will the Chancellor protect the school's budget from bearing the costs of the flood? Not clear at the moment. -Kirby Pulver and Christine Scanlon