Showing the Blue and White: Laurel Plains Students Back 'Home'

With an arch made of blue and white balloons to celebrate their return, students of Laurel Plains Elementary School were welcomed home this morning to their school in New City after more than two months in temporary quarters.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan said the Laurel Plains students went back to classes at Laurel Plains this morning without problem. After a bit of fanfare at the start of the day, she said classes settled in for their normal routine.

PTA members throughout the Clarkstown school district today encouraged students and staffers to wear blue and white — the Laurel Plains school colors — in support of Laurel Plains. Since September, students and staff of the school have been coping with being in temporary facilities since odor problems at Laurel Plains forced the school district to evacuate the school for an environmental and health investigation of the odor problems.

Most recently, Laurel Plains students were being taught in the old Hillcrest Elementary School in western New City. The district leased the building from the East Ramapo school district to give Clarkstown time to finish testing and repairs to Laurel Plains Elementary.

Laurel Plains Principal Carol Pilla said she and the staff of the school are glad to be back at Laurel Plains and that there have been no signs of the odor-related illnesses that had become a problem at the schoon in September.

At the time, some students and staff members at the school complained they were being sickened by sewer-like odors at the school. Despite an environmental investigation, health and engineering experts could not with certainty blame the odors on any one problem at the school.

In addition to the building being cleaned, sewer lines serving the building were cleaned and inspected, and improvements were made to the sewer and plumbing system to prevent any odors from getting into the school. Orange and Rockland Utilities also replaced the natural gas service line for Laurel Plains Elementary so the line could be ruled out as a source of odors.

"It's been a long road to get to where we are today," said Clarkstown school board president Phillip DeGaetano said this morning as he visited Laurel Plains Elementary. "What's most important is the kids are back in their school, where they belong — in a sound educational environment."

Teachers and staff of Laurel Plains began moving back into the school last week, when all that remained to come over to Laurel Plains from Hillcrest Elementary was cafeteria equipment, according to school officials.

Pilla said parents got a chance to visit Laurel Plains again last week for parent-teacher conferences, which were held at Laurel Plains.

Looking back at the school year since its start, Pilla said the lesson she has taken away from the problems with the Laurel Plains building is just how resilient students are and how well they can adapt to change.

She also said the experience has proven to her that the most important part of the learning process is the bond created between teachers and students — not the necessarily the building where they come together.