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BELMONT -- Students in the Union Local School District were bused home nearly as soon as they arrived Monday, and school was called off due to an issue with water service.
Superintendent Zac Shutler recounted the situation.
"It was district-wide. We had to close today, elementary through 12th," he said. "It's actually all corrected right now. This morning was really difficult timing, less than ideal timing."
Shutler said he was notified close to 6:30 a.m. by maintenance director Rod Roby that there was very little water pressure in the schools and that some places had no water.
"So at that point we were going to play it by ear until we talked to the water department. Mr. Roby talked to somebody at the water department at that time, and they didn't have an idea of when it was going to be restored, so initially we made the determination to cancel the elementary school, because it was already a situation where high school and middle school (students) were en route," Shutler said.
"Mr. Roby contacted the water department and they couldn't give us a for-sure time when water would be restored. I made the decision to close the middle and the high school because we couldn't operate the facility without the ability to run the restrooms, without the ability for hygiene and handwashing and also the ability to run our kitchen," he said. "It was a fairly easy decision to cancel school. The difficult part was the middle and high school students were either on campus or very close to campus, given the timing and the whole situation."
Union Local is supplied by the Belmont County Water & Sewer District.
Shutler credited the bus drivers and transportation department.
"They hung around for a little bit of time after their morning routes to make sure we didn't need them again, and it just so happened that we did," he said. "I asked the bus drivers to hang tight until I talked to Mr. Roby, and once we didn't know when the water was going to be restored, the bus drivers swung back to the school and picked up the students they had just dropped off, and then the parents were also super understanding and picked up some of the students as well. All-in-all, a huge team effort. ... Anytime in the morning it's a huge team effort to get 1,500 hundred kids in school. It's also a huge team effort to get 1,500 kids in school, and then back out of school quickly thereafter, minus the elementary."
Shutler said the cause was apparently a pump malfunction rather than a waterline break, so there is no need for a boil order. He said water pressure was restored by 9-10 a.m.
"Hopefully proceed as normal (Tuesday)," he said.