With heavy rain and high winds expected this week, Palo Alto High School’s administration is preparing for potential storm damage.
According to Assistant Principal Jerry Berkson, they are keeping an eye on the science break room which has had issues in the past.
“We’ve been trying to fix a leak for 20 years in the break room for science buildings,” Berkson said. “It also might be something like five classrooms down there [science building] too; it [the drain] follows a pipe all the way down. Haven’t figured it out yet.”
In addition to the science rooms, Berkson said both the library and walking areas around campus are also being carefully observed.
“I’m not worried about leaks as much as I’m worried about flooding,” Berkson said. “There are leaks we know about, we’ve already put in work orders to get the science building fixed. We’re re-tiling the library roof in the summer but leaks come up here and there all the time. We don’t know where they are until they happen.”
According to Berkson, the walking area between the portables is especially prone to flooding.
“The area between the portables that alleyway tends to get a lot of water as well as towards the two 200 buildings on the west side,” Berkson said. “So the problem is you have two issues. One is clogs. Two is the city’s capacity to handle the damage… since it’s going to rain pretty well for the next three days, I might call maintenance and ask if they can have the pump ready to go for the area between the portables.”
According to P.E. teacher Jacob Halas, while P.E. classes in general have not been affected because of all the indoor faculties, many after-school outdoor sports have experienced challenges.
“After school, sports are getting affected by this issue [rain and wind],” Halas said. “Like softball, baseball, and the new tryout season has been delayed a few days.”
According to sophomore Jayden Dhaliwal, who is on the boys’ junior varsity soccer team, rain has made games much harder.
“[The rain] usually makes the game a lot more difficult because when it’s raining, the ball moves a lot quicker on turf, it [the ball] skips a lot faster,” Dhaliwal said. “It makes the game more unpredictable.”
According to sophomore Jessie Kwan, the rain has been affecting her trips to and from school.
“Since it’s been raining pretty hard, it’s really hard for me to get to school,” Kwan said. “Sometimes I also have to go to work in the mornings, so that’s really inconvenient for me since I have to get driven instead of biking there.”
