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Flood damage repairs begin at Murphy school in Round Lake Park

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct that Jennifer Arroyo is the assistant principal sharing an office with principal Phil Georgia.

Work is underway on the $643,585 plan to fix flood damage at Murphy Elementary School and prevent a repeat in the future.

Flooding caused by heavy rains last July caused $2 million in damage at the Round Lake Park school, where water was as high as 4 feet in some places. Ever since, the school community has made due without nearly every lower-level room, including the library, computer room, four classrooms and the gym that also served as the cafeteria.

Principal Phil Georgia said workers have torn up the lower-level hallway and sections of the gym floor to replace the old drainage system. Crews arrive before the school day starts so the loud, disruptive work is completed before children begin classes, he added.

“Even with all of the work that's been done, probably 80 percent of the project will be done in June, July and August,” Georgia said.

A key part of the project is installing a lift station that will pump water away from the building and into Round Lake Park's sewer system. During the flood, a municipal pump designed to carry floodwater to a retention pond around 500 feet north of the school failed.

Georgia said officials plan to complete the work by next school year.

Teachers and students have adapted to the circumstances. Without the gym, students have eaten bagged lunches in their classrooms and have physical education outside. Georgia said students were outside around 95 percent of the fall, while gym teachers had to find ways to do P.E. in classrooms and in hallways after winter break.

Students are now back to having P.E. outside, Georgia said. Thanks to tables provided by the Round Lake Area Park District, the children will have lunch outside, too.

Teachers and administrators also have made space sacrifices.

Georgia's office is used as a conference room because the school conference room is used as the teacher's lunchroom. Georgia has been sharing an office with assistant principal Jennifer Arroyo.

Much of the initial flood cleanup was covered by Round Lake Area Unit District 116's insurance but the $643,585 repair plan isn't. This year, the district learned it will receive about $5 million from the state's new “Evidence-Based Funding” model lawmakers approved in August. Chief Financial Officer Bill Johnston said the project will be paid for entirely by those funds.

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