Since the beginning of time, one of the fundamental reasons man sought shelter — first in caves, then in buildings — was to keep the rain out.
This seems not to have occurred to the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Committee — at least not until recently. The school roof leaks. This is not a new problem. It has been leaking for several years. According to last year's accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the leaky roof is the most pressing problem Whittier must address.
But until now, the way to address it has been to have staff put plastic buckets on the floor to catch the interior runoff when it rains.
This is responsible building management?
Please, let us not hear about how there is no money. Every organization with a building, whether it is a family with a home or a business, knows that one of the fundamental requirements of responsible maintenance is to plan ahead — set aside money for roof repair or replacement. They also know that one of the worst things one can do is to ignore roof leaks. When they finally get around to fixing them, who knows what other damage will be exposed that might never have happened if the roof had been repaired on time.
Money for such basics ought to come before raises or benefit hikes.
Even if there is a credible case to be made that there was no possible way to put money aside for repairs, why is the committee only now getting around to seeking money from the state? It won't be until next week — the committee's Sept. 10 meeting — that it will even consider approving an application to the state's building assistance program for money to do the repairs. That application requires the school to form a building committee to plan and oversee the project.
The application, along with a building committee, should have been ready to go within weeks after the first leak was detected.
Communities that are part of the Whittier district ought to demand to know from their committee representatives why the school has no long-term maintenance plan. They should also demand that a plan be put in place before they cough up more money for these repairs.
