CLEVELAND — Families with students attending a boys' school in Cleveland are speaking out about water leaks inside the building. They told us this has been happening for a while now, and they just want something done about it.
“As a volunteer, as a grandparent, I felt like I wanted to step up,” said Danita Craven. She reached out to the News 5 Investigators with concern for the teachers and her grandson, De’Brian Willis, who’s in 2nd grade at the Kenneth Clement Boys Leadership Academy on Woodworth Avenue.
She told us she’s seen water leaking from ceilings inside the school. Willis doesn’t like it.
“It makes me kind of confused because where did that water even come from?” Asked Willis.
Craven said she was in the school’s cafeteria recently, and a student came up to her.
“‘Ms. Craven, Ms. Craven, it’s water dripping down on my food,’ and the lunch lady was like just move the tray over,” said Craven. “If it got in the food, she made him throw it away and got him some more lunch.”
Willis doesn’t like water in his meals either.
“When it’s dripping on my food, I can’t really eat my food because then it’s so soggy,” said Willis.
Craven told us the drips didn’t stop there.
“Then, when I seen it a second time and then when I go in the bathroom…and then, when I went in the classroom and seen… And then in the gym we was having some of the water dripping. I was like, no. I got to report this. I got to find out who I talk to,” said Craven.
Another person with a loved one who attends the school also contacted us. She didn’t want to go on camera but said she’s talked to those in charge of the school several times in the past, but the issue hasn’t been permanently fixed yet.
The Chair of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Board, Sara Elaqad, told us repairs were made during the summer and again last week. She also said maintenance is working on the issues this week and next week if needed. She told us the district has been doing a study of its longer-standing buildings, and it will see what it can do to improve student experience while sticking to a responsible budget.
Craven and Willis said they love the curriculum offered at the school. They just want the leaking to stop, and winter break seems like a good time to address the dripping. “If it’s close by us, then we’re bothered because we don’t want to put our hand out into water because it might be dirty water,” said Willis.
