Schools

Five Danbury Schools: ACE, The Alternative Center for Excellence

Water leaking both from the roof and through the basement is testing this 1894-vintage school, city study reveals.

With a perpetually wet basement, ACE, the Alternative Center for Excellence, is distinct in Danbury. It saw an enrollment increase from 72 last year to 81 this year, but no one is complaining about over-crowding in the 117-year-old school. Water. They complain about water.

This school's problem is water, left, right and center. The roof leaks, the basement leaks and under those conditions, everything in the middle is at risk.

"ACE has mold in the basement and there is a question as to whether it is safe to use the basement classrooms," said the April 27, 2011 Board of Education minutes.

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At the Sept. 14 meeting, details about the problems at ACE were outlined by Schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella, Ed.D.

"Mr. Janelli asked if this is a potential health risk - Dr. Pascarella said it is. We have 81 students at ACE. Mr. Taborsak said he assumes the City is keeping an extra eye on this. Dr. Pascarella said he is meeting with them this week. Mrs. Cooper wondered "if we have to think about moving those students and staff out of ACE."

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Pascarella said that it might have to come down to moving the students.

Part of the school's problem is elevator shafts were added in 1994, and that is one spot where water leaks into the school. Water that runs through the building's gutters is dropped into an underground drainage system, and water from there flows into the basement.

John Webber, science teacher at ACE, said, "I've been here for eight years and the mold has been there as long as I have been here."

Webber said when he first arrived, you couldn't really see the mold. "It was not in plain sight back then, it was in the back of a closet."

The mold forced the school to throw out all of the camping equipment one year, Webber said.

 "They are pretty sure that new gutters and downspouts will fix it. They are starting at the top, Webber said. "The sheetrock is touching brick, and sheetrock is like a sponge.”


Jazmine Marcy, a student in Weber's class, did not know about the mold. Virtually all of the students interviewed as they entered school said they were not aware that the basement had problems with mold. 

Antonietta Brown, like every other parent interviewed, had no idea there was mold in the building. Her daughter, Marisa, 17, said she had seen it two years ago when she went downstairs to guidance and opened a closet.


Linda Schreiner, school principal, said, “We love the building, we are so appreciative to be here. People come in with tears in their eyes, saying they went here. Our custodian works so hard. He was here all summer painting and polishing the floors."

“We have had the air qualty tested, and we have several dehumidifiers running down there, especially in the rooms most impacted. We are trying to make the best of it so we can stay here,” said Schreiner. In one basement classroom, a teacher's job every day, in addition to teaching students, is to empty the two dehumidifiers.


Laura Blake, a resource and yoga teacher, who also runs regularly said, “I work down there. I tend to have allergies and it doesn't seem to bother me at all. I have more allergies at home than I do here.”

The city set aside $400,000 this year to repair the problem, said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton. He said the final cost could be higher, but the work hasn't yet been bid out. It began researching the problem in May.

Danbury commissioned a 2011 study of ACE's roof and it's leaks, and the city received it on Aug. 18. The report said what appears as a basement leak really starts with the roof. Everybody knew about the damp basement for years, but the roof contributes to the problem, said H.B. Fishman & Co. in its Aug. 18 report, which urges the city to replace the roof.

"... its replacement will substantially reduce the amount of water leakage experienced at the lower levels of the building, however, it will not completely solve those issues," the report said. "The foundation waterproofing has been compromised."

During former tropical storm Lee, workers collected water leaking in the elevator shaft through a plastic funnel system that dropped it into a garbage can. The elevator rooms are no longer desired destinations for awaiting an elevator.

"Nobody wants to come in here any more," said Schreiner, principal, part-time nurse and part-time custodian. Under her feet, the linoleum tiles are soft and starting to lift off the floor in the room next to the elevator. The elevator shafts were added to the historic building 17 years ago, and the biggest roof leaks appear to be in the newest construction.

Danbury Schools have struggled with over crowding in 2011, but ACE may be unique for having a more serious water problem than crowding problem.  For information about over-crowding at Morris Street school, click here. A second school said to be overcrowded is Mill Ridge, and for information about Mill Ridge, click here.

The report concludes the city should put the roof work out to bid in time for reconstruction in the summer of 2012. It said any basement work should follow the roof repairs. Depending on the weather and funding, the work could start sooner.

Ignoring the water problems from the top and bottom, the school has its own listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Staff want it repaired and sealed against water. The wood floors are highly polished, and the water damage appears to be limited to some ceilings on the second and first floors and to rottting walls and ceilings in the basement.

Rumor has it that ACE has been a school continuously occupied since its construction in 1894, except during renovations about 17 years ago that added the now-leaking elevator tower. Danbury orgininally called it the Locust Avenue School.

It was renamed ACE in 1977, an alternative high school for students willing to give a second high school a try after struggling at Danbury High School. Students write and sign contracts describing their course of study at the school.

"It's a much more manageable size. I like the size, a small school," Schreiner said. "Each student joins a guidance group and they work with one teacher all year. That really builds relationships and it can build trust."


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