Klein ISD Maintenance repairing storm damage to Klein Collins High School

The south end of Klein Collins High School was hit worst by the storm, with extensive water damage to the classrooms requiring the use of industrial desiccant dehumidifiers to dry the waterlogged areas. The south end of Klein Collins High School was hit worst by the storm, with extensive water damage to the classrooms requiring the use of industrial desiccant dehumidifiers to dry the waterlogged areas. Photo: Robert Robertson, Klein ISD Associate Superintendent For Facilities And School Services. Photo: Robert Robertson, Klein ISD Associate Superintendent For Facilities And School Services. Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Klein ISD Maintenance repairing storm damage to Klein Collins High School 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

SPRING - The storm that dropped nearly a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours on Southeast Texas ravaged many key pieces of infrastructure in the city of Houston, and one particularly hard-hit area was Northwest Houston.

Klein Collins High School sustained extensive damage in the storm, and maintenance workers, under the supervision of Klein ISD Associate Director of Mainentance Kevin Wieghat, have been working around the clock in an attempt to have the building up and running again by Wednesday morning.

Some reports indicated that Klein Collins was hit by a tornado, but Wieghat says that that has yet to be indicated by the district.

“No one has confirmed tornado to me,” Wieghat said. “I don’t know that that has been confirmed by any weather experts. It was a very large storm, at least.”

Klein Collins principal Randy Kirk could not confirm that the damage was due to tornado, but given the damage profile - with nearby Kreinhop Elementary and Schindewolf Intermediate schools virtually untouched - he believes it likely was.

“It was either a tornado or high winds,” Kirk said. “Having lived out in West Texas and experienced tornados throughout my life, I think there’s a good possibility it was a tornado, but there’s no way to know. It was just a small strip over Klein Collins in a small area that had the most damage, and if it was high winds you’d think it would be a larger area.”

Wieghat and about 20 district maintenance workers are working alongside about 50 contractors from Blackmon Mooring, meaning roughly 70 men have been working since before sunup Monday to repair the damage at Klein Collins, which totaled somewhere between $3 and $4 million, according to Associate Superintendent Robert Robertson.

“We’ve got some debris, punctured holes in the roof and water into the building,” Wieghat said. “We’re trying to get as much of [the building] ready to use as we can. We’re extracting the water, hauling out wet stuff, trying to dry it out and get it back usable.”

The worst of the damage was localized to the southern end of the building, which includes a wing of science classrooms and which, as of the time of writing, is still too wet to be used and is being dried by industrial desiccant dehumidifiers.

“The south end of the building got more of the damage because the storm was coming from the south and blowing that way,” Wieghat said. “Most of the damage is on the southern end.”

With the possibility of classes as early as Wednesday morning, Wieghat says the workers are focusing on high-priority areas first, leaving damage to areas like the greenhouse and baseball field until the school is up and running again.

“The priority is to get the building ready to have students as soon as possible,” Wieghat said. “Our goal is to not lose instructional time. That’s done by providing a safe, comfortable environment for the kids, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Whether or not Klein Collins will open for classes Wednesday will be up to Klein ISD superintendent Jim Cain, and that decision should be made by sometime late Tuesday. When the school likely reopens Wednesday, some areas of the building will still be unusable, forcing some classes to meet in the library, gym or other multi-purpose areas.

“If we get it open tomorrow as planned, there will be areas not open,” Wieghat said. “The entire building will not be ready tomorrow, but it should be ready for school.”

The classrooms in the southern end of the school are not far from being operational, though, according to Wieghat.

“Approximately 15 classrooms is what pretty well won’t be ready tomorrow,” Wieghat said. “But our goal is when folks come back Monday morning, we’re fully operational. That’s the goal right now.”

Kirk estimates the number of unusable classrooms for class Wednesday to be somewhat higher, but the administration has a plan in place for how to deal with the loss of those rooms.

“There’s probably closer to 20 classes that are going to have to relocate to different classrooms or instructional areas in the building for tomorrow and the rest of the week,” Kirk said. “We have been working on a schedule to relocate those teachers and students, so we’ve got a plan on that, where those kids would go for each class period.”

The balance of the rooms should be available by the beginning of next week, according to Klein ISD maintenance.

“All classroom areas functionally usable Monday morning is the goal,” Wieghat said. “Exterior damage and even some of the interior damage like painting will not be completed by then. Having every classroom usable by Monday is the goal.”

With the priority being getting kids back into the classrooms, some of the exterior damage, like downed light poles and a broken outfield wall on the baseball field, does not have a timetable for repair.

“We haven’t gotten to that yet,” Wieghat said. “We’re focusing on the building right now, and getting kids back in the building and getting kids in classes is all we’re focused on right now, and making it safe. We’re cleaning all the debris out there to make it safe to where people can maneuver on the ground safely. As far as when they’ll get back into the outside structures, we haven’t gotten to that.”

Kirk praised the work that Wieghat has done in a very short amount of time, getting Klein Collins back up and running in time for a probable Wednesday schedule.

“It’s unbelievable,” Kirk said. “Klein ISD’s maintenance department is just incredible. Any time there’s an issue, they always respond quickly, they’re professional and they do whatever it takes to solve the problem, make the repairs and get the school up and running. They always come through. They’re top notch.”

Kirk expressed his gratitude to the maintenance department for its efforts, which ensured that - barring a ruling from the superintendent - students will be back at their desks Wednesday morning.

“We’re looking forward to the kids coming back [Wednesday],” Kirk said. “It’s just amazing what Klein ISD maintenance has done preparing and getting things back in order so we can have school.”