The Berlin
Cit itiz ize en Berlin’s Only Hometown Newspaper
Volume 14, Number 11
Thursday, March 18, 2010
More McGee evacuations have parents worried, angry
After extensive air testing, school expected to resume today By Olivia L. Lawrence The Berlin Citizen
Last week McGee Middle School was evacuated and shut down three days in a row, mainly due to fumes that were entering the building from roof repairs. The school was closed this week for air quality testing and is scheduled to re-open today. The facility was scheduled to be open to the public Wednesday afternoon, March 17, to allow people to see — and smell — for themselves what is going on, said
interim Superintendent of School Mark Winzler. A public meeting on the facility after the open house was scheduled to include: Mayor Adam Salina, Board of Education President Gary Brochu, as well as representatives from public works, the Department of Environmental Protection and the firm of Fuss & O’Neill that is redesigning the school’s HVAC system. “They’re testing every room in the place from soup to nuts,” Winzler said. He described how the week unfold-
ed. March 10, students were evacuated from the Norton Road school about 11:50 a.m. due to odors originating with a roof repair that were being sucked back into the school through the HVAC system. The “air handlers” were turned off at that point. The second incident, March 11, when roof repair fumes came through openings in the roof, caused another evacuation. During that incident, one teacher fainted and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Roofers worked late into Thursday to finish the roof in advance of predicted rains. See Evacuations, page 26
During last week’s evacuation, parents gather outside McGee Middle School and ask for information.
How sweet it is — sugaring time at Hungerford Park
End of the road
By Maura Gaffney Special to The Citizen
Photo by Joseph A. Zebzda
Berlin High School’s Kaitlyn Bovee takes the ball to the hoop against Hillhouse Monday night in the semifinals of the CIAC Class L state tournament. The Lady Redcoats came up short, 54-47. See story on page 19.
Beautiful spring weather brought a steady flow of visitors to the New Britian Youth Museum at Hungerford Park, on Farmington Avenue, for its annual Maple Sugaring Day and Pancake Breakfast March 6. While sap dripped steadily out of the taps in the sugar maple trees in the grove, homemade maple syrup was being poured generously over the pancakes in the kitchen — although some visitors opted for the homemade blueberry or cranberry sauce instead. “It’s a very popular event, because it’s educational,” said volunteer Cindi Witham. “You walk to the maple grove and see how the trees are tapped. You learn about the entire process from start to finish,” said volunteer Ruth Day. “It’s a wonderful
Photo by Maura Gaffney
Angelo Galante, 3, of Newington and Alethea Constantine, 5, of Kensington sample sap directly from a See Sugaring, page 5 maple tree during sugaring day at Hungerford Park.