Coming back from winter break can leave you in a slump, but it was even worse for us this year here at PCH. Due to a pipe that burst in the nearly zero degree weather, the entire front office was submerged in water, forcing Kim Orf, Chris Dallas, Melvin Griffin and many others at Parkway Central to adapt to the changes that unexpectedly came upon them. Our school has been impacted in ways that many might not even realize, and others are far too familiar with.

Kim Orf, the secretary in the front office, remembers getting a call from Principal Mccarthy around six a.m.

“I was getting ready to come to work and he said there was a pipe that burst in the front office,” Orf said. “Depreist, he does all the building custodials, he went in there to reset the alarm and saw the burst pipe and that everything was flooded.

The damage has been pretty significant, especially the paper files. Forms for field trips, detention, and a lot of student files were ruined.

“Students who graduate from like five years ago, we have to keep those files for like 10 years, those were ruined. We are the only one who has those, there are no copies in the district,” said Orf.

Once arriving at school to the mess in the front office, Melvin Griffin, who sits at the front of the building and monitors who comes in and out, recalls many members of PCH working together in the wake of this unfortunate event.

“Many members of the staff joined in to move furniture, computers, and other electronics out of the way which was very challenging,” Griffin said.

Even though the front office was a significant center for student passes, deliveries, package drop off, lunch pick up, and more, PCH personnel are still working to make sure things are running smoothly despite the complications to their everyday routines.

Chris Dallas, the 12th grade principal, and others were forced to relocate their offices. This has definitely been quite the adjustment.

“It’s a little different not knowing where all my stuff is located. Some is in the conference room, some stuff is in a locker room,” Dallas said. “Not having everything I need at my disposal has made it a little challenging.”

This relocation of the members in the front office has caused some disturbance in the usual flow of daily events.

“It’s been hectic. For a while we didn’t have announcements so some of the students were questioning what was going on,” Orf said. “We weren’t doing paging so students weren’t getting their passes.”

As Griffin best put it, “the front office is the heart of the operation.” In its absence, everyone has been working tirelessly to make sure things still run smoothly for both the students and staff.

The renovations for the office are in the works right now and they hope to be finished by the end of March or early April in order to get everything back up and running as soon as possible.