Caon School trying to stay dry

The Caon School’s soggy basement is something that is not keeping district leaders down in the dumps. District 12 Superintendent, Dr. Walt Cooper told me that cleanup is continuing after feet of water in the basement that has kept the facility shut down since last week. The focus of the cleanup is to eventually evaluate the furnace, electrical and phone system to see if all are ready to safely get back on line. It’s estimated there could be up to 10 thousand dollars of water damage.

Just across the street from the Caon School off west Cheyenne Road is Cheyenne Mountain Junior High School. A 2004 bond issue let the district spend 11 million dollars to add a new extension to the building. It is high and dry after the heavy rains. Dr. Cooper told me that one of the things he learned in the design phase of this project was in depth information on where the flood plain flows in this part of town on school property. The addition construction keyed in on the problem to make sure there was no future water problems. Dr. Cooper told me about the project, “There were mitigating measures required by the flood plain administrator to go into the new construction.” The Junior High is constructed with a retention pond and a curved design, “It follows the natural curvature of the grade so that everything flows away from it.”

The Caon School is now home to 150 pre-schoolers, a day care and adult community programs.