Sandy Costs Millburn School District $232,000

Millburn's Board of Education approved contracts for almost $232,000 to repair the damage to district's schools from Superstorm Sandy at its most recent meeting.

"I'd have to say we were lucky," Business Administrator Steven DiGeronimo said. "The damage to school facilities was, on balance, relatively small."

One section of the High School and South Mountain Elementary were repaired immediately to prevent further damage by snow storm Athena.

The high school sustained significant damage, losing one complete section that spanned about 2,800 square feet, DiGeronimo said.

The South Mountain Elementary had four smaller sections of roof repaired.

Although the damage to the other section of the high school roof was much larger, there was still coverage so an emergency repair was not necessary, DiGeronimo said.  The smaller section damaged lost two layers of the roof exposing the concrete of the building. 

"Critical repair has taken place to prevent further damage to the buidling," board member Regina Truitt said referring to the High School. "Contractors were secured to ensure quick repair before they were hired by others."

Buildings and Grounds told the committee most of the damage was done to the roofs due to the high winds. 

In addition to wind damage, trees destroyed the batting cage and fell throughout the grounds of Hartshorn and the high school.

School board property committee called a special meeting on Nov. 9 to discuss the damages occurred and necessary emergency repairs, Truitt said.

MK Lyons, LLC was awarded the contracts and paid from the district's operating fund. The damage claims will be submitted to the school district's insurance company and then to FEMA to recoup as much as the costs as possible.