Sprinkler douses school wing debut

BANGOR – A sprinkler accident has delayed the opening of the high school’s new addition, the superintendent told the school committee Monday.

The new area, which includes special education classrooms, science labs and an observatory, would have been ready Friday, but now is expected to be completed by the end of the month, Superintendent Sandy Ervin said.

The sprinkler went off in the new lecture hall on Oct. 3 at around 8 p.m., causing minor damage to that room and putting the chemistry classroom directly below out of commission.

Also on Monday the committee unanimously approved the first reading of a policy stating that Bangor schools will not use time-out rooms as a disciplinary method.

A time-out room is used to isolate a student who is behaving dangerously and could potentially harm himself or herself or other students, or cause significant property damage.

“We’ve never had time-out rooms and we aren’t about to start,” Ervin said.

After the meeting he compared the controversial punishment to solitary confinement.

Committee Chairman Martha Newman said she was pleased that Bangor would have a written policy banning time-out rooms.

Schools that use them are “out of control,” she said.

“They either need to train their staff or the student needs a different placement.”

Meanwhile, Ervin said the damage caused by the sprinkler wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

The carpet in the lecture hall was impervious to water and had a high quality rubber backing so that the plywood underneath was unaffected, he said.

The chemistry classroom was a slightly different story and would need repairs to the tiles and wallboard.

“The last five percent of a project always is the toughest, when you’re coming down the home stretch and things start to go clunk,” the superintendent said.

Members of the National Honor Society and Students to End Environmental Destruction have big plans for the U-shaped courtyard in the middle of the building, Ervin said.

Students are designing a landscaped area with flowers, trees and concrete benches so that classes can be held there.

“It’s going to be fabulous,” Ervin said.

Also on Monday Downeast School got a new sign thanks to the Friends of Downeast PTO who donated a 60-inch by 48-inch carved sign with gold leaf.

Bangor’s schools all have “unique, colorful, interesting signs,” school committee member Sue Carlisle said.

“It’s a pleasure to drive around and see how each school sign has its own personality,” she said.