LRSD reports 14 buildings with winter weather damage

Little Rock, Arkansas – The winter weather has caused damage to over a dozen school buildings, according to the Little Rock School District.

The exact cost of the losses won’t be known for certain, according to Kelsey Bailey, Chief Deputy of Finance for LRSD. According to him, the district’s priority is fixing the buildings so that, weather permitting, students can return to class on Monday.

“As the weather is improving a little bit as far as temperatures going up, we are seeing some of those pipes that are frozen or busted up starting to unfreeze now,” Bailey said. “We are discovering some of the leaks.”

Bailey clarified that although they were able to take certain precautions, it gets difficult to maintain when the weather gets colder and buildings close because of snow.

“We did have some flooding in certain classrooms. We were able to get that water taken up and those classrooms dried out,” Bailey said. “If there is carpet, they will be shampooed and back to normal operational standards.”

Bailey stated that several schools would have been closed for damage if the weather hadn’t forced them to close already.

Bailey responded, “The district has seen worse, but they are still adding up total damage repairs,” when asked to compare the damages to those of the previous few years.