Waterline break floods Newark school

NEWARK, Calif. (KGO) -- A waterline break on the campus of Newark Memorial High School flooded eight classrooms with three feet of water. Crews are trying rearrange alternative teaching spaces before students return to school on Monday.

The water line burst last week when students were on winter break. It's a good thing they were gone because according to the superintendent, neighbors said it sounded like an explosion when the pipes burst.

It has taken several days for maintenance crews to pull out damaged furniture and other items from the classrooms that were flooded. Classrooms wall and carpets have also had to be torn apart to get rid of water damage.

Some teacher's winter breaks were cut short, because they had to come in and sort through their classrooms and salvage materials they'll need when classes resume. Plus, they had to move into other rooms.

"We have some auxiliary classrooms in our events center, but it's the process of some of the furniture was destroyed, some of the teacher's belongings were ruined, and so then it took this two weeks of moving them over to the classrooms, but they'll be displaced probably for most of the second semester," said Dave Marken, Newark Unified Schools Superintendent.

Many students at a school basketball game Saturday said they already heard about the damage, but a few parents said it was a surprise to them.

All classes have been successfully moved to new spaces. School is expected to return as scheduled Monday.