"We typically will see random leaks after heavy rains," says Kris Hackbusch, one of 17 principals in Washoe County getting repairs to their schools' roofs.
"See the air coming out of it," says a worker with D&D Roofing. It wasn't clear to the untrained eye, but he had no trouble pointing out places in need of repair on Reno High School's roof, "It's busted here."
"We are used to working around the some of the challenges of our buildings," says Hackbusch. Contractors finished patching the roof of his school, Reno High School, this week.Â
"You want your students and your teachers to feel comfortable, you know," says Hackbusch, "If they're cold, if there's water dripping and we got to move desks or move students out of locations, it's an interruption."
Billinghurst Middle School was also affected after our mid-October rainstorm. They say leaks have caused damage and even forced children to move out of some classrooms because of a "musty smell."
The roof is being patched, but the principal says they need an entirely new one.
"It's actually about 27 years old and it has the original roof which was designed to last for 20 years," says Sheri-Lyn Cutler. "So we definitely have gotten our money's worth out of our roof, but we definitely need a new roof to avoid these problems."
According to the district, a new roof would cost $3.5 million, which is not available. Officials tell Channel 2 that there were 184 calls for leak repairs (the number of actual leaks is larger) in the last fiscal year. Those 184 calls cost the district about $95,000. If you break that down it comes to $516.30 per service.
The district is using that to estimate costs for this latest round of roof repairs. Officials say if repairs for any school exceed $500 D&D Roofing (the contractors) will need to go back to the district to approve the work before it is completed.
Meanwhile, water is just one weapon Mother Nature is using against area students.
"Extreme cold," says Principal Hackbusch, "I mean we had students in parkas last winter when we had some heating issues. It becomes a joke but it's kind of a sad joke because it's something they've learned to work through."
