JOHNSON FINDS THE LEAK!!

     In 1996 I left the General Motors Assembly plant in North Tarrytown, New York and became the Director of Facilities in the East Ramapo School District located in Rockland County, New York.  My first large project became the replacement of a flat roof on the Summit Park Elementary school.  At the time it was about a $300,000 job.

    It was my first introduction to school construction versus industrial construction by the way.  On the first day that contractors started working on the roof I received a phone call from the head custodian telling me that the window shades were falling down all around the building.  Turned out that all the shades were only attached to sheet rock soffits with maybe 1" sheet rock screws.  None were attached to wood or steel and the vibration from above was knocking them out.

    I digress.  After the roof was replaced all was fine except for this one little leak that would show up in a classroom supply closet near the back of the school.  When the leak occurred it had no rhyme or reason to it.  We could have severe rain, snow, or maybe even a hurricane and there would be no leak.  After 5 days of sunshine, we would all of a sudden have a leak.

    Because of the corrugated metal roof decking I understood that a roof leak could be 10, 20, or maybe even a hundred feet away and find it's way through an opening.  But I searched and searched with various roofers and we just couldn't find it.  This went on for a couple of years.

    One day I got a panic phone call from the school Principal.  She said "Roy, you have to do something right away.  A 2nd grade kid just went into the supply closet and slipped on a puddle and banged his head".  So again I call the roofing contractor, we go up on the roof, do not see an active leak inside the closet but just a puddle on the floor.  The problem is not resolved.

    So I go into the classroom and ask the teacher if I might talk to the class for a moment.  She graciously agrees.  I ask "which one of you kids got hurt in the closet today"?  A shy little hand barely raises up.  I ask if he's the one who fell.  He says yes.  I ask him his name.  He says "Johnson".  I say "Johnson what?"  He says "Johnson George".  Then our dialogue.

"Johnson are you OK?"

"Yes"

"How would you like to help me solve this problem?"

"Sure!!  I'll help!!"

    So I hand Johnson a flash light and I bring him into the closet to show him what I want him to do.  I tell him to go into the closet once each morning and once each afternoon.  Shine the flashlight at the ceiling and see if there is any leak.  Then I handed him a business card and I told him to make sure that if he ever saw the leak when it was happening to call me right away.  Here's a few photos of Johnson's chore.

 

    

    Months went by and one day I had a phone call from the school secretary.  She said "Johnson found the leak".  So I immediately called my roofing buddy, Ken Hoyt, and told him we need to get to Summit Park right away because Johnson found the leak.  Turns out that Kenny was in a dentist's office and had just been injected with Novocaine.  But as determined as he was to help solve this problem he told the dentist he had to leave and reschedule.  

    So we show up at the school at the same time, Kenny having a numb lip.  We go to the classroom.  We see the leak.  We go up on the roof and we find it.  Leak was repaired the next day.

    So I decide to reward Johnson.  I had a medal engraved.  The medal had two hands grasping and engraved around the outside that said "TEAMWORK".  I also wrote Johnson a letter of commendation and had it framed.

                                                     



                                            

I made that kid a hero for at least one day.  Believe me I honestly did not know but someone notified the local press about what was happening.  Here is one of the newspaper articles.

    So thats's the end?  Not yet.

    Ten years later I got to wondering whatever happened to Johnson so I started to look for him.  Turns out he was a Senior at Spring Vallet High School and he was near the top of his class.  I think he was 4th or 5th in his class and he was applying to various engineering schools.  So we connected.  Seemed like a great young kid and I asked him if he remembered helping me to find the roof leak.  He read me from his college application essay.  I am paraphrasing here but it began something like this, "I became interested in engineering when I was in second grade and this nut job engineer and Director of Facilities handed me a flash light and a business card".  The rest as they say is history.

True story.