Faulty Faucet Floods Beverly Middle School, Causes 'Extensive Damage'

BEVERLY, MA — A malfunctioning faucet valve in a fourth-floor science classroom caused damage to 18 classrooms — including "serious damage" to five classrooms — across four floors of Beverly Middle School this past weekend.

Superintendent Suzanne Charochak said that work has begun to fix what was termed "extensive damage," which includes drywall, doors and cabinetry. She said the classrooms are expected "habitable and safe for student and staff use" by the time students return to the school on Aug. 28.

Additional cabinet work may be necessary after that and will be completed outside of school hours.

"This timeline is the result, in part, of supply chain-driven delays in the delivery of needed materials," Charochak said in a district statement.

Staff members discovered the slip-and-slide-hallways and swamped classrooms when they arrived at the school on Monday morning.

The superintendent said the malfunction is believed to have occurred after the building's water service was restored the previous Friday following a planned interruption for maintenance work unrelated to the faucet.

Teachers whose classrooms were impacted have been notified, Charochak said, and the district will take steps to make temporary storage available in the affected classrooms.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)