SI Elementary School Still Dealing with Damage from Sandy

A Staten Island public elementary school is getting more than $1 million dollars in federal emergency funding to help cover repairs made to the school after Hurricane Sandy, but that is only a drop in the bucket considering what needs to be done. NY1's Bree Driscoll filed the following report.

Principle Jane McCord greets students at P.S. 52 every morning.

As they make their way in, they have to hop over broken concrete, damage left over from Hurricane Sandy.

"I never anticipated that I'd be 15 months out with plans still not on the table," McCord said.

Hurricane Sandy devastated the building.

"I was here the following morning, and we opened the door to the basement, and you couldn't go down," McCord said. "The water came up to the second step."

The school's boiler, electrical, ventilation, hot water and telephone systems were all destroyed. Students were forced to relocate to the Petrides School for about a month.

Since the storm, the student population has dropped by about 75.

"Many of our families moved away and haven't been able to return," McCord said. "Some still hope to return."

The school has a new ventilation and electrical system, paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but the boiler is temporary, and the hot water heater is much smaller than what was there before.

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SI Elementary School Still Dealing with Damage from Sandy