The Festus R-6 Board of Education has agreed to spend nearly $73,000 to repair water damage to the district’s Early Childhood Education Center building, 821 American Legion Drive.
Festus Superintendent Nicki Ruess said the water damage to the building occurred Aug. 13, the day before the district was to hold an open house in the building for the Festus R-6 Tiny Tigers Academy – Early Childhood Center.
“An element on the dishwasher burst at our (Early Childhood Center), causing flooding in four classrooms, the kitchen, a portion of the hallway, bathrooms and a portion of the multipurpose room,” Ruess said.
She said a condition of the contract called for the company to perform the repair work at times that would not interfere with district Tiny Tigers Academy classes.
“All the work will be during evenings (on weeknights) and on weekends,” Ruess said.
Boyer Construction started the work the first week of November, said Kevin Pope, the district’s coordinator of communications and special projects, on Nov. 12.
The repair work is expected to take six to eight weeks, Ruess said.
She said that since the water damage occurred, some classes in the building were shifted around to other rooms.
“Two classes were relocated and combined with two other classrooms,” she said.
Ruess said the Tiny Tiger Academy program has an enrollment of about 150 students and a waiting list.
She said the district’s insurance will pay for the repairs.
“While the timing of this water damage situation was not great, it did allow us to uncover a problem that likely had been there for quite some time,” Ruess said. “We were able to get in quickly and mitigate the problem and now are beginning the restoration phase of the project.”
The district bought the former Wee Care Learning Center property in December 2021 for the purpose of starting its own Early Childhood Education program for the first time. Classes in the program began in August 2023.
The school board voted unanimously Oct. 24 to award a $72,990 contract to Boyer Construction in Farmington to repair the water damage. The company submitted the lowest of two bids for the project.