'Storm Challenges,' Brick 'Issue' Affecting So. Lehigh Schools

Some "storm challenges" that have recently plagued Southern Lehigh schools were discussed by school board member Dr. Elizabeth Stelts at the board's meeting Monday night.

Stelts said the principal's office at Liberty Bell Elementary School was flooded during a recent rainstorm, because "the drains just couldn't handle the runoff."

Most of the problems involving the drains have since been addressed, Stelts said, but some problems remain at other schools.

For example, she said a generator that was recently in use at Hopewell Elementary School didn't "kick off as it was supposed to," which caused its battery to explode.

A "brick issue" at the Joseph P. Liberati Intermediate School was also highlighted during Stelts' facilities committee report.

The brick on the four-year-old school building is "spalling," or weathering, board members were told.

Stelts said cracking related to the spalling was first observed at the school in 2010.

It is not known what's causing it, she noted.

School district director of facilities Todd Bergey said the brick used to build the intermediate school is also "effervescing," which is causing the outside of the building to have some white residue on it.

At a meeting earlier in September, district superintendent Leah Christman told the board that the middle school also faced some flooding issues recently, when a freak storm dumped nearly five inches of rain on the area in a matter of hours.