NEW FAIRFIELD, Conn. — A water valve at New Fairfield High School that was never properly crimped during construction caused the Oct. 15 water line break that ruined the school's gym floor, members of the building's project team told the New Fairfield Board of Education on Nov. 5.

It was the second such failure at the building. Asked whether an earlier leak, which happened before the school was turned over to the district, had the same cause, a project representative said that valve also had not been crimped or properly finished.

District officials said the gym floor is being replaced through insurance and that classes have moved to the legacy gym at the middle school. They had hoped to finish the work by mid-December, but said it now looks like it will be done around the new year. The flooding also forced the cancellation of a World Language Honor Society induction ceremony, which has been rescheduled for Dec. 15, according to the student representatives' report.

What went wrong

A project representative told the board the valve used a press-style fitting that is supposed to be crimped instead of soldered, and that "the contractor did not do that." He said the plumbing system had been pressure-tested several times, and that he could not explain why the joint held as long as it did.

An engineer on the project said the valve was covered with insulation within a couple of weeks of being installed. He said the contractor is ultimately responsible for installing work according to the manufacturer's instructions. The design team visits the site regularly, he said, but does not inspect every one of the hundreds or thousands of fittings in a building.

Most fittings in the building are designed to leak during a pressure test if they were not crimped, so mistakes show up right away, the engineer said. He said valves are not available with that feature. The team proposed listing every such valve in the building, removing the insulation and inspecting each one. Asked whether every valve would be checked, officials said that was the plan and that they would follow up on how to speed up the process.

The engineer said the building's control system senses water pressure and logs alarms, but that the alarms "did not make it out of the building" to anyone who could respond. He said the team would test that system and look at adding alerts. An automatic shut-off system is not typical in a large commercial building, he said.

The contractor was not named during the discussion.

Board members frustrated

One board member repeatedly pointed to the cost of the project, calling it "an $80 million school that is four years old," and asked who was responsible for the installation. "I appreciate everyone being here, but we have a problem," the member said.

Another board member called the school a beautiful building and said the leak "kind of goes into the poop happens category." That member said the board takes heat for the leak and for an ongoing propane problem at the school, and wants both resolved quickly. Board members did not discuss the propane problem in detail. A project representative said it was not related to the leak.

Near the end of the meeting, a third board member objected to that framing. "It's not poop happens and it's not wonky. It's a negligent installation of a piece of very important construction material that failed because it wasn't installed correctly," the member said. "This stuff doesn't happen when people do their jobs correctly."

The member said no one at the meeting had named the company or the people who would be held responsible. "I'm really angry," the member said, adding that the whole community paid for the school.

Another member asked whether the building had been checked for mold after the two floods and raised safety concerns about the propane system. A board member replying to the comments said "people who are accountable should be held accountable." Another added, "We still don't have propane."

Scott Coleman of Colliers Project Leaders, the project manager, said the architect, engineer, contractor and members of the building committee had come to the meeting to show they are working on a fix. "We absolutely understand the severity, the concern, and it's justified," he said.