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Flies still lord it over Chelsea High School

Chelsea High School will be shut again on Monday and Tuesday so workers can fix the cracked pipes that were letting flies into the school, Chelsea Superintendent Mary Borque reports.

The school was closed Thursday and Friday so that workers could figure out where all the darn flies were coming from. They determined they were getting into the school through cracks in four pipes under the concrete slab on which the school sits:

Because of the structural nature of this work, our engineers have been working to develop a plan for cutting through the slab of concrete to get to the cracked pipes. We have sought and received as of 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon permission for an expedited emergency bid process from the State to now look to hire a contractor who will begin to cut through the concrete.

Once we cut through the concrete, the timeline will move fast. We will fix the pipes and restore the concrete slab to its original condition. After this, a complete cleaning of the building will take place. Only after these steps are completed will we open to students and staff.

Because of the nature of the work, school could be closed on Wednesday as well, Borque writes, adding she will make a final determination on that Tuesday afternoon.

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Comments

very clever headline. Thank you.

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Maybe someone with a better construction knowledge can help me understand.

This just doesn't make sense. If there's flies in the drain, how do they get out of a cracked pipe that is covered up by a concrete slab. Yes I know, maybe drains and stuff.. but 99% of all drains have traps on them to prevent gasses from coming up. of course if there's a crack in the concrete yes, but it doesn't say that.

I don't think Mary Bourque's explanation is very clear...

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Here's my guess: the infestation is of drain flies that lay eggs in sewage, not houseflies that lay eggs in dead things.

The pipes cracked. Raw sewage leaked out and formed a delightful soup under the slab. Drain flies formed a giant colony in the soup, then got into the school through whatever tiny openings.

I hope the situation is cleaned up quickly without other bad effects.

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With the onslaught of Global Warming Climate Change and Boston's record low temperatures in the single digits last week, are these arctic flies or some special species that are "getting into the school?" I haven't seen a fly since October at the latest. There must be more to the story but as usual, the media regurgitates a ridiculous press release without any skepticism or questioning.

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given the obvious swirling mixture of swill and slim slushing around inside the catch basin of your cranial cavity that periodically leaks out during your rants, you apparently have some sort of public safety role in society.

While I am not a proponent or supporter of government monitoring of social website, your postings do provide a compelling argument for why it might be necessary in order to ID those who exhibit a harmful proclivity towards the rest of society.

Suggestion: go see a shrink - spend some time exploring what caused you to be such a SOB and if treatment might mitigate your lack of critical thinking, basic interpersonal skills, and general shitty approach to people and life.

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I'm kind of surprised you didn't see the winter moths -- there were a lot of them flying around in November / early December.

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They're coming from the pipes underground, Einstein. It's not so cold down there in the sewer. Drain flies. Look it up.

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... and we had a fly infestation just over a week ago, and had to call pest control. it's happens. just because you haven't personally witnessed it, it doesn't mean that it's part of some complicated nefarious plot.

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You know you got flies in your lab because BENGHAZI!!!!

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The school was built in 1996. Twenty years on, the slab fails? Did the contractor skimp on the concrete? Or did the 2002 expansion overload the pipes?

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As I recall, the firm that had the contract for the design of the school was SMMA who also had a school in Lynn that they built on slab which unfortunately was on fill that was not particularly stable - leading to cracked foundations, big problems and a law suit. This might be part 2.

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There's a body in the foundation.

(Too much Dateline)

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I'm not really sure how a discussion of this lead to such rancor. The explanations of the cause of the infestation (not infiltration, big eye roll) is just murky and people of a practical mindset would naturally have reason to question it. It may be just as they say, or, it seems to me equally likely, somebody who has never needed to pick up a tool in their entire life and simply cannot be bothered to think beyond the abstract might be getting smoke blown up their bum. First rule for public relations should be "ABC - always be clarifying !"

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