Fire at Hackley -- Goodhue Memorial Hall

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Hackley School e - Bulletin: Friday, August 10, 2007
Update after the fire

Assessing the damage
Since Saturday’s fire, we have been working to clean up the aftermath, plan next steps for the restoration of Goodhue Memorial Hall, and, more immediately, plan for the opening of school on September 4. Hackley has lost three technology labs, three English classrooms, the English office, the photo lab, and of course the library and its offices. A number of other rooms have sustained cosmetic and light structural damage in the form of broken windows and roof damage. Our first priorities in terms of sustaining our programs for September 2007 are restoring the lightly damaged rooms and planning reallocation of space to serve the functions formerly housed in Goodhue. No final decisions have been made at this point, save for the relocation of the photo lab, which was already planned to open this fall in Minot Savage Hall – the room once occupied by the Tuck Shop and most recently by the school bookstore. 
 
Beginning the recovery
We are fully confident Hackley will be able to open on time in September. When you think of it, in Goodhue only a small percentage of Hackley’s physical plant was compromised by the fire – all of our other buildings are fine -- King Chapel, Raymond Hall, Hale Tower, Philip Savage, Minot Savage, the Science Building, Allen Memorial Hall, Saperstein Middle School, Kathleen Allen Lower School, Allen Pool, the Performing Arts Center, and Zetkov Gym. The School’s insurance coverage is very good, but whatever settlement Hackley receives will not fully cover the complete cost of Goodhue’s restoration. The current building code – not in force when Goodhue was built in 1901-02! – will require changes in the interior arrangements. These improvements, not feasible in turn of the last century construction, are mandatory in new construction. Once we recognize that it will therefore not be possible to have the interior look exactly as it did, we can also recognize that we have the opportunity to create a library and information center that is state of the art in serving our programmatic needs – while also honoring Hackley’s traditional aesthetic. These discussions on the redesign of Goodhue are very preliminary, but our hope is to preserve the exterior as much as possible. Preliminary engineering reports indicate that Goodhue’s stone walls are still sound, though we will be conducting extensive surveys to assure that is the case. To protect the walls this winter, we will need to either tarp the structures or install a new roof. We also anticipate that we will have to fence off the area nearest the building, which will affect the quad area both logistically and aesthetically for a period of time. We will advise families prior to the opening of school of any revisions in traffic and drop off patterns. 
 
Offers of help
We are grateful for the early gifts that many have sent to support the restoration; the strong desire to help at this time is moving to all of us. At present, we do not know how large a gap will exist between the cost of the hall worthy of Hackley’s Quad and what insurance will cover, but we know there indeed will be a need for financial support. We will give you more information as we learn it, and Board President Tom Caputo ’65 will be sending you further information on this as soon as possible. Many have offered to donate books to help rebuild the library. Please defer such donations for the present! We are thinking of how best to rebuild the collection and return to “normal.” Our immediate plan for the fall is to reorder the new books we had ordered this summer and also to order a core collection of books pre-processed by our usual vendor in hope that we will be operating on September 4th. Unlike these books purchased though our vendors, books donated by friends take time to sort and catalog as well as space to store – time and space we do not have right now. Once we have been able to plan the details of our new collection and determine the parameters of the interim library, we will be able to consider prospective donations of books. Alternatively, you may wish to make a cash donation restricted to the purchase of books. If so, please contact our Development Office. On behalf of everyone at Hackley, thank you for your ongoing support and concern.

Walter Johnson

Hackley School e - Bulletin: Sunday, August 5 2007
Note from Walter Johnson sent by Suzy Akin

Walter Johnson has asked me to forward this note, which he sent to Hackley employees on Saturday night.  We will continue to send information as it is available.

Today's Fire
By now I’m sure you’ve all heard about the fire in Goodhue Memorial Hall. The first and best news is that no one, neither Hackley people nor firefighters, was hurt. I did an interview with a bunch of the news media at 2:30 this afternoon, in which I tried to give credit to the amazing firefighters – men and women – who helped Hackley today. Of course, that wasn’t newsworthy, but you should know – Tarrytown coordinated 21 different fire departments (an impressive administrative accomplishment). Pat Derivan, the 1st Assistant Chief for Tarrytown led the effort, in which the following departments participated:

Archville
Ardsley
Armonk
Briarcliff
Continental Village
Croton
Dobbs Ferry
Elmsford
Fairview
Hastings
Irvington
Mt. Kisco
Nyack
Ossining
Pleasantville
Pocantico Hills
Sleepy Hollow
Tarrytown
Thornwood
Valhalla
Yorktown

I’ve received approval from Board President Tom Caputo and Treasurer John Cooney, both of whom were on site today, for Hackley to make a contribution to each of these departments. If your town’s department is represented, and you want to make a contribution, too, please say that it’s in gratitude for their exceptional work at Hackley today. These men and women did heroic work and helped save our school from far worse damage. We owe them a very very great deal. The next best news is that the fire was contained to Goodhue Memorial Hall. The firefighters deserve credit for that, but so does Mike Quinones, who was on duty at 4 am and pulled the fire alarms when he smelled smoke. The fire was already well advanced – probably a lightning strike that had smoldered contained in Goodhue’s old timbers until it broke through with particular virulence. Mike’s vigilance deserves all our gratitude! Thanks too to Bill Smith, quick on the scene, and three administrators who traveled a distance to help, cutting short their vacations – Jed Dioguardi, Peter McAndrew, and Phil Variano. Hackley is fortunate to have a great team, including Suzy Akin, Director of Communications, who also cut her vacation to send pushpages to employees, alumni, and parents updating us all on the fire. As you’ll have heard, Goodhue is pretty much gutted, though there may be some elements we can salvage. On the other hand, Raymond has only some cosmetic damage - holes in the roof made by firefighters venting the fire and windows broken for the same purpose, and some smoke. We’re moving quickly to begin the cleanup, and to prepare as many classrooms as possible for the start of school. We’ve lost the library, library offices, three computer labs, three English classrooms and the English Office, and the photo lab (which fortunately was moving to Richard Hocker’s old office for this fall – work is almost completed on that, though the photo equipment will have to be replaced). We can manage the temporary loss of classrooms, and most important, since the stone walls of Goodhue still stand, we hope to be able to restore and improve the building. We’ll be involving structural engineers to assure that the old walls can be preserved. They built them to last a hundred years ago! In sum, Hackley has a great team in place – ultimately to restore our buildings and in the short term to manage our adaptation for the fall. I know you’ll all find this fire as sad as I do, but the truth is -- we can manage this, we will start school on time, and this adversity will only make us stronger. Thanks to all of you who’ve sent messages of concern and support! Another part of my interview which I’m sure made the cutting floor was my comment about the defining resilience of the Hackley community. If you could have seen Anne Siviglia joking about not having to clean her classroom; Jennie Lyons planning where computers can be sited; Courtney Kelley, Mike Quinones, Raegan Russell, Dianne Sullivan, and Steve Uydess managing temporary dispossession from their apartments with sang froid – Hackley people are tough! My favorite message was from Ron DelMoro, who commiserated with me for having to manage another “burning issue”! We also have a sense of humor! If you need some humor, see the tape of me that will probably be on an endless loop on YouTube, Channel 12 filmed me asking them to leave the campus! I’m like the classic perp – holding my hand up to the camera. I’ll admit, their offensive attitude got under my skin, which at that point was a little thin. The other media folks, though, were understanding and sensible. In sum, we were by most standards very fortunate today. I look forward to the revival of Goodhue Memorial Hall – we clearly know how to build new buildings. As we enjoy the new Kathleen Allen Lower School, Saperstein Middle School, our Science Building and Middle School Dining Hall this year, they will remind us of how wonderful the new Goodhue will be, reassuringly traditional in its old stone garb.

Stay well,
Walter

Hackley School e - Bulletin: August 4, 2007 - 6:32 pm
Fire Update

Dear Hackley Friends,
It's been a very long day on the Hilltop, but we're glad to be able to say that the fire is out and the fire crews have departed.  We're beginning the planning now for clearing up the mess and starting to think about restoration. As you can see from this photo, the shell of Goodhue Memorial Hall remains intact, though the building was completely gutted, and the Kaskel Library and its contents have been lost. Some of you may have heard reports that the damage extended to other campus buildings as well. These reports were incorrect.  The fire was limited to the building known as Goodhue Memorial Hall, which contained the Upper and Middle School Kaskel Library and the classroom wings immediately adjacent on the left and the right.  Raymond Hall, the Upper School building connected to Goodhue, was not significantly affected. Some have asked about plans for a restoration fund.  We are creating a fund for the restoration of Goodhue Memorial Hall and the Kaskel Library.  Anyone interested in participating can send a check to Hackley School, 293 Benedict Avenue, Tarrytown, NY  10591 (be sure to indicate that your gift is dedicated to the Goodhue Memorial Restoration Project) or make a gift online at Giving to Hackley (be sure to indicate in the "comments" box that your gift is dedicated to the restoration project). We are grateful for all the kind notes, fond memories, and warm thoughts that members of the community have sent our way today. Thank you. 

Hackley School e - Bulletin: Saturday, August 4, 2007 - 7:32 am
Fire in Goodhue Hall - no one injured

We wanted to let you know that there has been a fire at Hackley School. The fire has essentially gutted Goodhue Hall and its wings. The stone structure remains, but the roof and interior are gone. Walter Johnson is at the scene now, and asked me to share this information with you. The fire departments have responded and the situation seems to be under control at this time. There are no injuries, and the damage seems to be contained to Goodhue Hall and its wings. We ask that you please not come to Hackley today, as the fire crews will be working on the Quad through the day. Given the circumstances, please do not call the school for information. We will send out email updates as soon as we have more information.We do not anticipate that this will delay the opening of school September.

Thank you.