Fire

[Rob Campbell]

Hi Andy,

What a terrible situation!

I recall that Trevor Castle, still at PNBHS I believe, circulated a list of
essential physics gear to all schools (early 90's, so maybe a bit dated)  He
may still have it, or a later version.

Good luck with your rebuilding / recovery!

Rob Campbell

-----Original Message-----
From: phys-teach-talk-bounces at nzip.org.nz
[mailto:phys-teach-talk-bounces at nzip.org.nz] On Behalf Of
andydyson at actrix.co.nz
Sent: Sunday, 6 June 2010 9:14 p.m.
To: Phys-teach-talk at nzip.org.nz
Subject: Fire

Hi all,

The burned out lab that you saw on the news was the one I have taught in
at Kerikeri High School since the start of 2002. We also lost our main
prep room and chemical store. A second lab and a couple of classrooms and
a long computer room are also badly damaged.
The fire brigade asked at 6.30 this morning what was in the chemical
store. I reassured them that our radioactive sources were the tiny ones
available for school use and comparable to smoke alarms. But we had
mercury, a flammable liquids cupboard (which I later found out had
exploded!), oxidising agents, acids and bases, flammable solids and
poisons. The usual stuff that you would expect in a school chemical store.
Our technician was a star. She arrived with a full list of what was there,
with quantities, that she had on a flash drive at home. The school records
were in the prep room and destroyed. (Hint: take a copy home!) Why did the
TV3 news fixate on radioactive materials? I do think there's some sort of
phobia!

I had brought all this year's NCEA internal assessment stuff home on
friday to go through it, along with my laptop and records. But last year's
US that I am not using this year (but am/was still due to be moderated on
4 of!) have gone.

ALL OF MY EQUIPMENT AND BOOKS HAVE GONE UP IN SMOKE!!!

Insurance exists but I don't know yet whether the idea is to replace that
lost gear (how much can I remember?) or to equip a new lab for senior
Physics from scratch. I hope it's the second option. I'm sure that I have
seen lists somewhere of all the gear that it would be sensible to have to
teach senior Physics. Can anyone help with such a list as a situation such
as this will require answers to be provided for my Principal asap.

Anyone been here before and can offer advice?

Please reply both to me and the list so everyone can see what is happening.

Andy Dyson,

HoD Physics, Kerikeri High School.


_______________________________________________
Phys-teach-talk mailing list
Phys-teach-talk at nzip.org.nz
http://nzip.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/phys-teach-talk_nzip.org.nz