GARWIN — A month after a water pipe break caused major damage at the GMG Secondary school in Garwin, steady progress has been made toward returning students to 100 percent in-person learning by Mar. 6.

On Jan. 7, Secondary Principal Jaimie Gargas and teacher Tiya Montano discovered a cascade of water coming down the hallway when they returned to the school from a debate competition that evening.

A pipe on the third story of the school’s north wing, which was built in 1920, ruptured, sending water down into the second floor. It eventually leaked into the first floor.

A report issued as part of a letter to GMG families indicated that a total of eight classrooms and five office spaces sustained heavy water damage, and approximately 70 percent of the instructional spaces at GMG Secondary were affected in all.

Since the second week of January, students have been attending classes under a hybrid learning plan that rotates their schedule in the building to every other day.

Extracurricular activities have been able to continue in the areas of the school not affected by the water damage, and enough classroom space has remained available to allow at least 50 percent of classes to take place each day.

The plan received emergency approval through the Iowa Department of Education and has been renewed on a weekly basis as needed.

Similar to the distance-learning protocols adopted for the COVID-19 pandemic, students were issued laptops to use for schoolwork at home as well as mobile internet hotspots for those without access to internet at home.

In the letter to parents, Gargas encouraged families to reach out for accommodations if students were in need of assistance or extra help on days that they were not scheduled to be in the building.

“We’ve been quite fortunate to have half of the building available for use — it honestly could’ve been much worse,” Gargas said in the letter. “Our sense of community has made this experience much easier to deal with, as has the ‘practice’ we had with COVID-19.”

School meal services have also been made available to all students regardless of whether they are scheduled to attend class in the building that day or not.

Assessment of the water damage from restoration and insurance professionals working with the district showed a number of needs in the damaged wing — including replacing flooring, cleaning carpeting, repairing and replacing drywall, replacing ceilings, mitigation for moisture and mold, replacing baseboard, painting in several rooms as well as testing and abatement of asbestos where necessary.

The walkthrough report indicated asbestos abatement may not be covered by insurance, but it’s unclear if any asbestos had been uncovered.

The restoration work has progressed relatively on schedule, and Gargas said that although the return date of Mar. 6 is subject to change, things continue to move in the right direction.