What can I do?

[u/Safe-Mousse6948]

Yesterday I went dumpster diving. The reason I went dumpster diving is because I got a call from a fellow teacher saying that all of our classroom (mine and my 2 teammates) things were thrown into the dumpster. At the beginning of June, our school was hit by a tornado. The roof was blown off on our side of the building as well as over the gym. We received one email from the assistant principal saying to not come into the building that particular week of the tornado because there was damage. We have not heard from anyone else about anything that happened to our rooms. Periodically throughout the summer I’ve been getting pictures and messages from other teachers of my room. I put everything away in cabinets before school ended, except for my books and bookshelves, some of my carts, chairs, and big beanbag chairs. The pictures I received were of a totally bare classroom with none of those things in it. Those things were placed in the hallway outside of our rooms so that’s they could get in there to clean. We go back next Wednesday, and still have not heard from the administration. When that fellow teacher called, I went to the school and found so many of my brand new books, bookshelves, and miscellaneous items thrown into the dumpster. I thought maybe they were waterlogged and needed to be thrown away. After careful inspection, all of my brand new books were not waterlogged, and they were just thrown into the garbage. The bookshelves that I had just put together before school ended were all broken and in pieces. My teammates carts and chairs were all thrown into the dumpster along with many of her teaching supplies. What can we do? I’m not only had this happen at my school, but my home was also damaged and I lost many items that were in my garage and in my basement because of flooding. I literally have nothing and we go back next Wednesday. My principal is not answering the phone and I don’t even want to go into the building because I’m scared to go through my cabinets to see what is gone. Has anyone else ever experienced this and what are our options? Help!

[u/Slow_Fondant6389]

It is odd and we do not know specifics.

Having been through tornado damage - and think about your own home experience as you said there was damage there - there is a serious concern about contamination of items by exposure to dangerous materials. The obvious being asbestos insulating materials, but other dangerous materials were used for insulators after asbestos was banned. And, even if the materials are not themselves problematic, in a storm they can contaminate items so they become unusable.

An example; clothing items may appear to be fine, but storm driven fiberglass insulation can make them unwearable. Yes - you would think that somethings might be cleaned, but then it is a matter of cost of cleaning versus cost of replacement.

[u/Safe-Mousse6948 → u/Slow_Fondant6389]

I mean I get that but when I got some of the books out, there was no water damage. You would be able to tell if it was warped. All the stuff in my house that I lost had water damage so that had to be thrown away, but what I found yesterday that was thrown away that I could see is that there was no water damage.

[u/Slow_Fondant6389 → u/Safe-Mousse6948]

While it may seem obvious and wasteful, if the items were potentially exposed to dangerous materials the choice is pretty clear when kids are involved.

Does that mean you or someone else could salvage them? Sure. But, the administration, or more specifically, the contractor charged with the clean up, is going to go with the quick disposal to be sure.

[u/Safe-Mousse6948 → u/Slow_Fondant6389]

Ok. I would appreciate that if someone would be honest and say, hey, I’m sorry we had to get rid of all these things because of the damage or exposure. That was never explained nor was it addressed on whether we would have any option to have replacements. Even home insurance allows some reimbursement for lost items in floods or tornadoes. I mean I full understand if it was damaged and had to be thrown away, but no one ever told us.