Because of a water line break in Building A on Christmas Eve morning, the Salina Area Technical College campus will open on Thursday, January 5, two days later than planned.
The campus will remain closed to the public until Thursday, January 5th.
Some Student Services staff will be working remotely on Jan. 3 and 4 and can be contacted by email or voice mail.
The break occurred in a fire suppression water line over the Student Services and Learning Resources Center in the north end of the building, and water spread into the Student Services offices and nearby classrooms for the Dental Assistant and Dental Hygiene programs, as well as classrooms on the building’s lower level.
“I received a call from the Salina Police Department at 3:45 am local time as I was in Orlando awaiting a return flight home Christmas Eve,” said Salina Tech President Greg Nichols. “We are fortunate the leak was discovered quickly, and we are thankful to the Salina Fire Department and Police Department for taking such quick action. Their response time was critical to abate severe damages and we were able to get professional clean-up crews were on the scene by about 5:30 a.m. that morning.”
Several staff members who were available on Christmas Eve came in to begin cleaning up the mess. Besides wet carpets, some furniture, computers and other equipment had water damage, and ceiling tiles collapsed in several places. According to Nichols, “without the help of our great team including Dale Castillo, Director of Maintenance, Jamie Palenske, VP of Administrative Services, Erica Kruckenberg, VP of Student Services, Jennifer Callis, VP of Instruction, and their spouses helping to move furniture and equipment out of the flooded areas, we could not have been able to limit the overall damages.”
A dollar estimate on the cost of the damage has not yet been established.
Despite the damage, Nichols said the college anticipates the spring semester beginning on Jan. 9 as scheduled but added that students should check their email and the college’s website in case that changes for specific classes.
