Update on Red Hook High School remediation
Posted Date: 06/26/26 (01:06 PM)
We are thankful and excited to announce that, following a second round of air quality sampling inside Red Hook High School, the building has been cleared by our testing and cleaning partners of any lingering harmful effects resulting from last month’s fire.
While the building will remain closed to visitors, we are in the process of preparing it to be reopened and, next week, students will be able to pick up items that were left in classrooms.
The air quality samples were taken at various places throughout the school this week and the test results were returned Thursday evening. The testing followed a multi-week process in which our cleaning partner, Advanced Disaster Recovery, cleaned all areas touched by the smoke and soot resulting from the fire, replaced all hallways ceiling tiles, cleaned impacted bathrooms and began the process of renovating the bathrooms.
The hallway bathrooms, coincidentally, were already scheduled for renovation this summer under a previously approved capital improvement proposition, and that work will continue as planned in conjunction with continued remediation.
Advanced Disaster Recovery will remain at the school into early next week to complete final tasks and remove equipment. We want to extend our most sincere gratitude to the company for their efforts over these past four weeks leading to our being cleared by the test results Thursday.
The district is insured through NYSIR, or New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal, which has likewise worked with us throughout this process. With the exception of a $5,000 deductible, substantially all work that has been needed to recover from the May 29 fire has been covered by insurance.
Item retrieval
Student items that were left in classrooms have been cleared to be returned and our office staff is in the process of identifying belongings. Families will be contacted as items are matched. From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday next week, June 29-July 3, students will be able to pick up items at the school.
As a precaution, it is strongly recommended that any fabric items be thoroughly washed before future use.
Please note that identifying and organizing student belongings is a time-consuming process, so some families may not be contacted until the middle of next week. If your child left items in a classroom and you have not heard from us by the end of next week, please feel free to call or email the school with a description of the missing items, and we will do our best to assist you.
As was previously communicated, any items left in lockers were unsalvageable. The district will be reimbursing individuals for the loss of those items, and those impacted should have already received instructions for how to begin that process. If you have not seen those instructions, please contact the school.
Summer Academy
As previously planned, our annual Summer Academy will be held at Linden Avenue Middle School this year, beginning July 6. We look forward to three exciting weeks of summer instruction in such areas as writing college essays, embroidery, coaching, SAT preparation and theater arts. Thank you to the Red Hook Education Foundation for once again helping make Summer Academy possible for our students.
This has been a most unusual final month of the school year but we are beyond grateful to have reached this point in the recovery process before the end of June. We will continue to communicate information regarding the building’s reopening and renovation as it becomes available. In the meantime, we wish every family in our Red Hook school community, and all of our community neighbors and partners, a well-deserved and relaxing summer.
While the building will remain closed to visitors, we are in the process of preparing it to be reopened and, next week, students will be able to pick up items that were left in classrooms.
The air quality samples were taken at various places throughout the school this week and the test results were returned Thursday evening. The testing followed a multi-week process in which our cleaning partner, Advanced Disaster Recovery, cleaned all areas touched by the smoke and soot resulting from the fire, replaced all hallways ceiling tiles, cleaned impacted bathrooms and began the process of renovating the bathrooms.
The hallway bathrooms, coincidentally, were already scheduled for renovation this summer under a previously approved capital improvement proposition, and that work will continue as planned in conjunction with continued remediation.
Advanced Disaster Recovery will remain at the school into early next week to complete final tasks and remove equipment. We want to extend our most sincere gratitude to the company for their efforts over these past four weeks leading to our being cleared by the test results Thursday.
The district is insured through NYSIR, or New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal, which has likewise worked with us throughout this process. With the exception of a $5,000 deductible, substantially all work that has been needed to recover from the May 29 fire has been covered by insurance.
Item retrieval
Student items that were left in classrooms have been cleared to be returned and our office staff is in the process of identifying belongings. Families will be contacted as items are matched. From 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday next week, June 29-July 3, students will be able to pick up items at the school.
As a precaution, it is strongly recommended that any fabric items be thoroughly washed before future use.
Please note that identifying and organizing student belongings is a time-consuming process, so some families may not be contacted until the middle of next week. If your child left items in a classroom and you have not heard from us by the end of next week, please feel free to call or email the school with a description of the missing items, and we will do our best to assist you.
As was previously communicated, any items left in lockers were unsalvageable. The district will be reimbursing individuals for the loss of those items, and those impacted should have already received instructions for how to begin that process. If you have not seen those instructions, please contact the school.
Summer Academy
As previously planned, our annual Summer Academy will be held at Linden Avenue Middle School this year, beginning July 6. We look forward to three exciting weeks of summer instruction in such areas as writing college essays, embroidery, coaching, SAT preparation and theater arts. Thank you to the Red Hook Education Foundation for once again helping make Summer Academy possible for our students.
This has been a most unusual final month of the school year but we are beyond grateful to have reached this point in the recovery process before the end of June. We will continue to communicate information regarding the building’s reopening and renovation as it becomes available. In the meantime, we wish every family in our Red Hook school community, and all of our community neighbors and partners, a well-deserved and relaxing summer.