Broken Water Main Cancels Classes at Helix Charter High School on Tuesday

Classes at Helix Charter High School were canceled Tuesday after a water main line break on near campus, the school announced.

"It was the main water pipe to the school and evidently pressure over time just cracked it," said Helix executive director Mike Lewis. "We came in this morning and water was rolling down the hill down toward University [Avenue] down the driveway, so we obviously knew something was up. We found the leak and as I say, being that it was a main, there's really no way to run school without water."

Lewis said that because part of the pipe that was replaced was plastic PVC pipe, it would take at least 24 hours for the pipe to cure, to be able to handle that kind of pressure. As of about 9:30 a.m. the pipe had been replaced and maintenence crews were moving dirt and mud back into the affected areas.

"We really don't know when it broke, but I got her at six this morning and it was running down the hill at that time," he said.

He also said that there were a few students who arrived at the school, but "fortunately it happened early enough where we were able to get the all-call out and minimize the number of students that had to go back home."

The day off actually becomes a two-day break for students, as the school already has a scheduled faculty workday on Wednesday. Lewis said they decided to keep the schedule to give everything time to get cured and cleaned up before students return.

The website also stated that the Thursday schedule is being changed to a Finals schedule and that Finals will resume, before Quarter 2 classes begin on Friday.