Administrators work to remedy boiler incident at Rainbow Elementary

MADISON — Rainbow Elementary students were home from school today after a boiler problem yesterday morning forced the students to relocate to the Discovery Middle School gym.

According to Superintendent Robby Parker, the boiler in the school broke down early in the morning and caused the carbon monoxide levels to rise while the heating system was turned on. Similar to a fire drill, administrators got the students out of the building before the levels became harmful.

Since the students were taken out of the building and the heating system turned off, the carbon monoxide levels have decreased significantly. Now, Madison City Schools is working to replace the boiler as quickly as possible.

“We’re going to have school at Rainbow next week, and we’re going to do everything in our power to have that boiler in, but if not, we’re going to make adjustments and we’re going to go from there,” Parker said at last night’s Madison City Board of Education meeting.

They are looking to install a temporary boiler before Monday, but if that does not happen, they may purchase space heaters that comply with the fire code and use those in classrooms next week.

By the time Parker left Rainbow Elementary at about 2 p.m., he said the carbon monoxide level upstairs was “O.K.,” but the level downstairs “was still higher than we wanted it to be.” Parker said he was “confident” that it would be cleared out Friday but wanted to keep children out of school as a precaution. “I felt it wise to not have school tomorrow in the sense that we’ll give it all weekend to completely clear out,” he said.

After all the students were out of the school and safe, Parker arranged for them to be transported to Discovery Middle School, where they stayed in the gym until their parents checked them out or it was time to leave. Parker later thanked DMS Principal Kim Stewart and the Discovery staff for quickly accommodating the hundreds of students from Rainbow. Rainbow’s staff tended to the students in the DMS gym, and DMS provided lunch.

Rainbow Elementary Principal Brian Givens said the building is safe after being checked by maintenance. “Mr. Gordon Wilkerson, my plant manager, along with Mr. Kevin Guest, along with all the maintenance department, were able to go literally in every corner of every classroom in our building and check for levels in every part of the building and determine right now those are safe levels,” he explained at the board meeting. “They did not see anything. It was at zero. However, with the heat situation that we’re currently in, with the night getting colder, I know that’s definitely a concern, but as of right now, we know that it’s no carbon monoxide level currently.”

Parker confirmed that the carbon monoxide was produced as a result of the faulty heater and was not present beforehand.

At their March 7 meeting, the board approved a resolution to declare emergency under Alabama Code 39-2-2(e) for authorizing award of contract for the purchase of a boiler for Rainbow Elementary without public advertisement. Normally, a purchase like this would see them put out notice for bids first.

According to Woody Sanderson, attorney for MCS, the circumstances and consequences of this boiler incident make it a “textbook definition” of an emergency. Under public works law, improvements and repairs such as this that are anticipated to be above a certain amount require public advertisement and competitive bids, but there are provisions under that law to declare an emergency. That only allows the board to forego the public advertisement, but it helps the process of getting a new boiler go more quickly.

The board also approved an agreement with Huntsville-based Mechanical Design Services Inc. in a tentative amount of $100,000. Michael Gunner, MCS coordinator of operations and safety, said that amount could be less, though. Gunner also said this group has worked with multiple schools in the district before and is familiar with their equipment. Johnny Echols, who is at the forefront of Mechanical Design Services, is already working to get everything planned and in place. Once the designs and engineering work is taken care of, bids can go out.

The board will hold a special called meeting to authorize the purchase, and that could happen as soon as next week.

Several people, including Givens, thanked everyone for keeping students safe and helping the day run as smoothly as possible. Parker and some of the board members commended everyone who helped the emergency run smoothly. Parker recognized several people in addition to the DMS staff, including Assistant Superintendent Eric Terrell, who he said was already on the scene and working on solutions by the time Parker arrived at Rainbow in the morning. Parker also thanked the Madison Police Department, the Madison Fire Department and Cindy Moeller, clerical aide at Rainbow.

Based on the handling of the incident and the school programs presented at the meeting, board member Travis Cummings said MCS “is in a great state.” Board member Connie Spears helped out in the DMS gymnasium after the Rainbow students arrived and said everyone involved was “phenomenal.”

“The parents were great. The students were awesome. The teachers are rockstars,” Spears raved. “… Discovery was ready before the first student arrived. … (The students) were having an adventure. They were all happy. That does not happen by accident. I cannot brag on the police department enough, everybody from central office that was there—it was awesome.

“Y’all are so great, and I cannot tell you enough. I am not surprised that it went so well. Y’all do what you do very well, but y’all were over and above today, and I really, really appreciate the care you took with every child. If a child was uncomfortable at all, you took the moment to stop and talk to that child so that they could be comfortable.”

These actions resonated with Noel Newquist, MCS art teacher and parent. He took the time during public comments to address the board to thank them and everyone involved with resolving the boiler issue.

“As a teacher today at Rainbow, I witnessed the culmination of an emergency plan that makes me feel comfortable as a father knowing that this district is taking care of my child,” Newquist said. “I saw the superintendent, board members and other people in this room and out of this room come together—this whole community come together—to make sure that every child was safe, every child was fed, every child got home with the right parents, the right siblings … thank you for taking care of our children.”