CLEVELAND -- Imagine your kids being off for three school weeks with no warning. That’s the reality for parents at one east side charter school pipe burst on January 10th. Now parents are doing their best to adjust.
6-year-old Derek Matthew is a first grader at the intergenerational school on Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland. But for the last two weeks, he’s been out of school -- learning at home with his parents.
“I wanted to go and learn in my school. But I couldn’t believe the pipes burst in my school,” he said.
It was 2 weeks ago when the school was flooded, destroying classrooms, furniture and reading materials.
“The first week, you call your aunt your sister, your cousin,” said his mother Chris Matthews. “Whoever doesn’t work during the day – might work in the evening. By the second week you kind of exhausted some of those measures.”
There are 250 kids total who are learning from home – with school administrators trying their best to help them along the way. Intergeneration schools has ordered and sent home workbooks, and teachers continue to post instructional videos to YouTube while students are out.
Intergenerational Schools’ insurance will also cover the cost of child care for students since the pipe burst. But everyone agrees, no workbook can replace time in the classroom with teachers.
“I can’t speak for the other 249, but for him to be out of school for an additional month after winter break, I think that’s a long time,” said Matthews.
But for parents, this is reality until students return to the classroom on February 1st. They’ll have missed a total of 15 school days. But because of the number of extra school hours in the school year, none of those days will have to be made up later.
For parents who are looking for more information about the Intergenerational School closing, visit their website tisonline.org.