She's movin' on up:With elevator working, girl with broken leg is back at school

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. To join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address. Once you do, your comments will post automatically. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.

comments powered by Disqus

September 20, 2006

By Shawn Regan The Eagle Tribune Wed Sep 20, 2006, 11:56 AM EDT

HAVERHILL - Sixth-grader Kyleigh Getchell returned to Nettle Middle School Monday morning even though the elevator she needs to reach the second floor, where her locker and most of her classes are located, was still not up and running.

Kyleigh's mom, Kathy Getchell, drove her daughter to school early before classes started to help Kyleigh make it up the stairs. Mom carried Kyleigh's books while Kyleigh used crutches to climb.

Kyleigh, 11, broke her leg after the second day of classes earlier this month while skating on her roller sneakers - sneakers that have wheels like roller skates. And although the Nettle elevator was in working order, state inspectors had yet to visit the school to certify work done over the summer on the elevator, rendering it off limits - until yesterday.

When Kathy Getchell arrived at school to pick up her daughter at 2:30 p.m. Monday, the elevator truck was parked in front of the school - "a good sign," she said. And by the end of the day, the state's public safety commissioner - who had been contacted by state Rep. Brian Dempsey to address the situation - confirmed the elevator is now certified and operational. Kyleigh and several Nettle students with special needs were able to ride the elevator yesterday.

For the last two weeks, Kyleigh had been receiving tutoring from a Haverhill teacher who visited her home three times a week for two hours at a time. Neither Kyleigh nor her mother was happy with that arrangement, however, and Kyleigh got a note from her doctor that she could return to school Monday, with or without a working elevator.

"I'm just very happy this has finally been taken care of," Kyleigh's mom said of the elevator. "Obviously it never should have taken this long.

"I was worried all day (Monday) that she'd try to go up or down the stairs by herself and fall," Getchell added. "I hope this doesn't happen again, for my daughter and for everyone else who needs that elevator."

At least two other students on crutches have been hobbling up and down stairs at the school. Four students in a special needs classroom have been confined to the lower level of the school since the start of the year because the elevator has not been working, school officials said.

Nettle Principal Gerald Kayo said state inspectors visited the school in April and identified several items that needed to be modified, including a sprinkler in the elevator machine room that had to be removed. The work was completed in July, and Kayo was told by the inspectors they would be back Aug. 31 to certify the work. He waited at the school until 5 p.m. that day, but no one showed up, he said.

Getchell credited Dempsey and City Councilor David Hall with finally getting the elevator up and running.

"For two weeks I called everyone - the superintendent, the mayor, the governor's office, anyone I could think of," Getchell said. "But no one returned my phone calls, except Dave Hall, until the story was in the newspaper. Now I've got everyone calling me back trying to take credit."

Getchell said she first complained to Kayo the day after Labor Day. Hall said he also had trouble getting an answer about when state inspectors would be out to certify the elevator.

By chance, Hall was having breakfast at a downtown restaurant on Merrimack Street last weekend when he ran into Dempsey. Hall told Dempsey about Kyleigh's plight, and Dempsey called state Public Safety Commissioner Tom Gatzunis.

Inspectors arrived late Monday afternoon, and on Tuesday morning Kyleigh was riding the elevator. Hall said it is a shame that the situation took Dempsey's involvement to get resolved.

"The system needs to have some accountability. It affects the quality of life for our students," Hall said. "The state told us they don't have enough inspectors. I say get more inspectors. Having a student lose days out of school is unacceptable."

Dempsey said he wasn't sure why it took so long to get the elevator certified except that there seemed to be a problem getting the elevator company and the state inspectors at the school at the same time - which was required for the certification.

Kayo said he doesn't know what caused the delay either.

"All I know is it was out and now it's on," Kayo said of the elevator.