FAIRLAND -- Chris Hoke got a phone call the day after Christmas while on a family vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina, to tell him there was three inches of water in his office back home.

Instead of enjoying family time and even a round of golf, Hoke, the Northwestern Consolidated Schools Superintendent, was on the phone most of the day with school staff talking about a water pipe bursting in the administration office in Fairland.

“There was a water line that froze in the ceiling that was a part of the old heating system that used to be in that building that burst,” said Hoke after the first school board meeting of 2023 Monday inside the Triton Central High School fieldhouse. The overhead water pipe burst during the bitter cold days just prior to Christmas. “We didn’t have personnel on campus and it ran for a couple days.”

Hoke’s office was one of several areas that were destroyed. Personal effects and memorabilia he had in his office are sitting in tubs drying out. There were 2-3 inches of water and insulation on the floor at the administration building.

“Probably the front one-third of the building is down to the studs,” said Hoke, who offered a tour of the administration building after the school board meeting Monday. “The ceiling completely fell in. There are probably five to six months of work when all is said and done.”

Administration staff are scattered for now but mobile construction trailers are due soon to regroup the staff that typically works in conjunction with one another.

Hoke is attempting to turn the unplanned water damage into a positive by restructuring the building he believes was built in the 1980s. The floor plan is being altered to create more functional space for the staff.

The conference room at the administrative building was spared and is now housing remnants of several offices that survived the water damage. That forced the school board to meet Monday on the second floor of the fieldhouse (photo).

The new location, which Hoke believes will be used through the end of the current school year, added more intrigue to a night where three new board members were sitting for the first time.

Travis Hensler, Kathy Humphreys and Brooke Lockett were elected to fill the seats vacated by Wendy Gearlds, Todd Brandman and Steve Steele.

Brandman was the most recent school board president.

David Ploog was voted in as new school board president with Ken Polston assuming the vice-president’s role and Cressa Rund serving as secretary. Terry Morgan is the other returning board member.

Tammy Achenbach and Kathy Cord were confirmed to continue as the corporation treasurer and school board administrative assistant, respectively.

Hoke added a key personnel change to the board agenda to formally accept the resignation of Triton Central Elementary School principal Heather Gant, who took a similar position in the Center Grove school district.

“There is an elementary school that had a change in principal mid-year and it is literally in her neighborhood,” said Hoke. “I understand it and I support her.”

Gant, who had been with Triton Central since the start of the 2021-2022 school year, finished out the fall semester last month and is now working full-time at Walnut Grove Elementary School.

Triton Central High School assistant principal Rhonda Hill (photo) will assume the principal duties at Triton Central Elementary School with a job search to commence in February or March.

“I don’t want to try and find a solution now because that would narrow the candidate pool,” said Hoke. “Most people outside of living in this neighborhood won’t leave mid-year. We would be limited who we could choose from. So, we will do it for a July 1 start for the fall. Rhonda is more than capable and the staff is awesome over there.”

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