Barring yet another disaster, the Lowville Academy and Central School District has decided all students will be able to attend classes in its building.

The school suffered major flood damage twice this summer, including just last week.

But without a real understanding of why these floods keep happening, the school now has to consider using delays or snow days — when it rains.

What You Need To Know

  • Lowville Academy and Central School was flooded twice in the past five weeks.  Heavy rainfall caused more than $10 million in damage.  However, the school is set to open to all students next week

  • Superintendent Rebecca Dunckel says the school will now have to consider rain forecasts when deciding whether or not to remain open

  • Dunckel says the clean up crews have done a tremendous job, but can't thank her staff and teachers enough, as they have volunteered their time to help get classrooms ready for the first day

“It's still so hard to grasp,” Lowville Academy and Central School Superintendent Rebecca Dunckel said.

They've seen two major floods in five weeks.

“We can handle the snow," she said. "We can handle freezing temperatures, but we've never had to develop plans to handle flooding."

With less than a week before the first day of school, the hallways of Lowville Academy are cluttered. Classrooms are still being dried out. However, Dunkel says all students will start on time, in this building.

“So many people are working overtime," she said. "It's all hands on deck."

While first-grade classrooms like this will not be ready, and those students will have to move to empty spaces in the middle school wing, there is progress being made.

Elementary classrooms are coming along.

“So, it's so exciting to see," Dunckel said. "The flooring has been done, It's been waxed. You can start to see what it's going to look like and it gives us a lot of hope."

Unfortunately, especially as we begin football season, one part of the school that will not open on time is the athletic complex, which took a ton of water during both of these events.

Now it can be salvaged, but it may be weeks before it can be used.

“The damage wasn't nearly as bad as the first flood, but it has kept us off it for right now,” Dunckel said.

The first flood caused the school about $10 million in damage. The second flood, Dunckle says, puts them well in excess of that. While that is an important question, how will it be paid for? Now the school has a few more questions that are more time-pressing.

“We know that if we're going to get multiple inches of rain in a really short period of time, we really have to think about, you know, do we delay and to see how bad it gets or do we do we stay on course and then use our emergency plan to remove the kindergarten and first graders to another space in the building,” she said

And another question is why? Why is all of this happening? What is the root cause?

Dunkle says she hopes to continue talks with the town and county to figure that out because no one can afford this to happen while kids are in school.

Dunckel says she’s thankful for not only the clean-up crews, but the staff and teachers who have volunteered their time this week and Labor Day weekend to help get the classrooms organized.