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By Melissa Azofeifa
Final repairs to the Mattituck High School gymnasium, which was damaged when a tornado touched down on the campus Sept. 25, should be completed by the third week in November, in time for the winter sports season, according to Superintendent Shawn Petretti.
The EF-0 tornado caused extensive damage to the gym roof, as well as tennis courts, fencing, nets and scoreboards.
“You could see daylight from the gym in certain sections,” Mr. Petretti said Monday evening.
Mr. Petretti said students were back in the gym for physical education classes by Oct. 3 and repairs to the tennis courts were done as quickly as two days after the storm.
“The contractors, the company that came out and did all that work for us, they really moved at a rapid pace and got us whole again pretty quickly,” Mr. Petretti said.
The district is working with Renu Contracting and Restoration of Copaigue, he said.
Students are still unable to use the gym for competitions or practice, he said, and the varsity girls volleyball team has been using the gym at Cutchogue East Elementary School for practice and games.
Repairs that remain to be done include the gym flooring, which contractors are expected to begin Thursday according to Mr. Petretti, and the scoreboard.
There were concerns the damage would impact the school’s Sept 29 homecoming, which included the annual Tucker Bowl, bonfire and pep rally, but Mr. Petretti said the roof was secured safely enough in time to hold the event in the gym as usual.
He declined to estimate how much repairs would cost, saying that number is still “fluid.” He did note, however, that “all these repairs are going to fall under an insurance claim.”
Mr. Petretti said he appreciates everyone’s hard work in restoring the space to usable condition.
“I was just very thankful that Tom Kelly, our head of buildings and grounds, and all his guys, got to work and got things cleaned up at a very fast pace,” he said. “Then that the contractors that we’re working with were also able to really jump on the work that needs to be done and to make sure that we were ready to use that space again.”
Melissa Azofeifa
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