Repairs To Chatham School Property Underway Following Car Crash

CHATHAM, NJ — Repairs are still underway at a Chatham elementary school that was damaged by a vehicle crash in late May.

On Monday, July 10, the Chatham Board of Education gave an update on the progress at the Washington Avenue School after a car crash into the school property causing damage to the fence and other structures.

Chatham School District Business Administrator Peter Daquila stated that all repairs to the fence, playground, and building will be completed over the summer before teachers and students return to school.

Funding for the repairs will come from three separate regular purchase orders, which were issued to the approved vendors.

"We are progressing and moving along," Daquila said.

Jill Critchley Weber, President of the Chatham Board of Education, stated that the fence is already back up on Shunpike Road and has been since June.

Daquila stated that he intended to check on the progress last week, but due to widespread power outages that affected streetlights, he chose not to drive down to the borough.

"I don't know if the vendor had come out, I know he was contracted. We hired a mason to open up the wall to verify that there is no other damage... so that will get done soon," Daquila said.

The crash that damaged the building occurred on Friday, May 26, and no bystanders were hurt as a result of the collision.

"A car made a very abrupt left turn off of Washington, over Watchung Avenue, into a tree, into a fence, through the Washington Avenue playground, bumping some playground equipment and then coming to rest head-on into the building," Daquila said.

The school district's insurance company, Utica, will be reimbursing the district for all of the expenses that they will face in completing the repairs.

Last month, Weber wondered if it would be a good idea for the school to relocate the playground equipment so that if an incident like this happened again, the playground would be unaffected.

Weber proposed relocating the playground further down the property, away from Watchung Avenue. "I know the school's been there since 1956 and this hasn't happened, but its happened now."

Daquila stated that they had not considered it because the school liked the current playground configuration, but that in light of events, they would be open to discussing it.

There has been no word on whether the playground relocation will be included in the repair plan.