By Seth Daniel
Without incident, students returned to Chelsea High School (CHS) on Wednesday morning, Jan. 4, after having some extra time off due to a fly infestation that brought an early end to the fall term.
Supt. Mary Bourque had said the school would be ready, and on Tuesday night, she confirmed as much in a letter to all parents and staff that school would be back in session.
“I am happy to report that our construction activities to repair two collapsed pipes located under Chelsea High School were completed as of December 28 and the school will re-open as scheduled, tomorrow, Wednesday, January 4, 2017,” she wrote. “All three floors of the school have been thoroughly cleaned prior to school opening, tomorrow. As previously reported, after a complete video inspection of the school’s drainage system, four pipes were found to have collapsed or had separated from the plumbing system due to corrosion. Two of the drain pipes have been taken out of service and have been capped. The two remaining collapsed pipes were replaced.”
Bourque said the life-span of such flies is about two weeks, and there could be some stray flies remaining, but the infestation is over. She said no chemicals were used to kill the flies during the cleaning process, but rather by using sticky paper and electric “zappers.”
Now, however, the most pressing matter is figuring out how to make up the seven days that students missed before Winter Break.
“Chelsea High School students and staff will need to make up the missed days and missed time on learning,” she wrote. “A schedule for making up the days is tentatively set for later in June. These days will be finalized after the snow season.”