The hurricane of 2012 known as Hurricane Sandy, can arguably be one of New York’s greatest tragedies. Hurricane Sandy devastated the city and left many people homeless and nowhere to live. As a result, many schools became shelters for these homeless people . Brooklyn Technical High School was one of these schools opened up to become a shelter. From October 29th,2012 to November 12th, 2012, Brooklyn Tech housed over 300 patients from the adult homes, Surf Manor and Chai Home. Many of these patients were of special needs. However, despite Brooklyn Tech becoming a shelter, students were still mandated to go back to school on November 7th 2012 and this led to what is one of the most interesting weeks of Brooklyn Tech’s history for both students and the patients staying in the shelter.
Brooklyn Tech became a full time shelter on October 29th 2012 and took in over 300 people from Surf Manor Adult Home and Chai Manor Adult Home. These two adult homes were terribly flooded and the patients living there had to move away. These patients initially stayed in the first floor of the school and in the gymnasium. They were allowed to go to the 1st, 2nd and 7th floors and even use the 3rd floor showers located in the boys locker room. The general population eventually relocated leaving the special needs of the adult homes in Brooklyn Tech, dropping the amount of people to less than 250. The school set up a clinic to help those that needed medicinal attention and provided them with blankets, medicine, pet supplies, and numerous other supplies that was needed. These special needs patients were rumored to do their “business” not in the bathrooms of Brooklyn Tech but on the floors and walls. Eventually, the school announced on November 5th 2012, that on the following Wednesday, students will be returning to school and these people in the shelter were relocated to the7th floor cafeteria.
Hurricane Sandy was a devastating storm for all of New York City. Despite this horrific storm, it had a silver lining for students. For students that despised school, this was like a mini vacation, except with a hurricane outside. Many students skipped school for over a week because of this storm and some schools that were sheltering people, had even more days off. Students at Brooklyn Tech got 11th days off. We had off from the Friday of October 27th 2012 to the Wednesday of November 7th 2012. “When we heard that school was cancelled for the 5th & 6th, we were all so happy! But had we known what we were going to go through the next week, I think I’d take back my two days of school” said Brain Li, a current senior at Brooklyn Tech. It was true. We knew about the people living in the Brooklyn Tech shelters and had heard rumors about it but we did not know just how horrible the next week was going to go be. When we got back to school, we were told that each period was going to be cut by a third of its regular time. This seemed like a dream come true but the students of Brooklyn Tech soon realized that it was just the cherry on top of a pile of very disgusting feces. Students that had class on the 6th floor during these patents’ stay were really unfortunate. This is not only because they had to walk due to elevators being disabled but because of the horrible stench coming from the floor above them, where the patients stayed. “It smelled like feces and human waste. Those 6th floor periods were the longest periods I’ve ever been through in my life even though they were 30 minutes long. It was unbearable” said Brain Li, a current Brooklyn Tech senior.
Brooklyn Tech students attended school with 250 special needs patients living in the 7th floor cafeteria from November 7th 2012 to November 12th 2012. Because the 7th floor cafeteria was closed off from student access, students were forced to eat lunch at the auditorium. Each lunch period had over a thousand students and each period of lunch was a riot of students all trying squish their way into the auditorium before the last lunch bell rang. Imagine the dawn of Black Friday in front of Wal-Mart except with teenagers all trying to get a very stale turkey sandwich instead of a good deal. Despite students not being able to access the 7th floor, patients on the 7th floor were allowed to go around the school and even outside. Students that were walking around during class hours would occasionally bump into these patients with special needs and it was a very scary and awkward experience. Students were told strictly to stay away from these patients and not to interact with them just in case. Patients were not monitored as well as they were before school began. Mark Thomas, a 52 year old schizophrenic refugee, disappeared during this time and was not found until a long time after.
The week of that Brooklyn Tech was a shelter was definitely an interesting one for both students and the patients. On the afternoon of the following Tuesday, the people in the shelters were evacuated and displaced from the school. Students were told they can start using the 7th & 8th floor facilities but this made a lot of people worried. The cafeteria was used for nearly two weeks of housing people and they had planned to clean it and let us use it right away. Many parents demanded that it be checked out and deemed safe before students were allowed back into the cafeteria. The 11 day break we received because of Hurricane Sandy resulted in a cut in our winter break. Students and staff of Brooklyn Tech all received a weird once in a lifetime experience to go to attend school while being used as a shelter and patients’ all got their back safely.
Work Cited
Shapiro, Julie. “All City Schools Reopen for Class, as Some Kids Share Space with Shelters.” DNAinfo.com New York. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013
SMITH, GREG B. “Mental patient disappears from a Hurricane Sandy evacuation shelter at a Brooklyn high school.” NY Daily News. 7 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013
Vladu, Daniel. “Http://www.bthsnews.org/2012/12/15/hurricane-sandy-an-interview-with-a-volunteer/.” Interview by Linda Nguyen. Http://www.bthsnews.org/. 15 Dec. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013
MONIHAN, RACHEl. “With transit down and many schools damaged, New York City kids won’t be back to school until Monday.” NY Daily News. 2 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013
Bayliss, Sarah. “Many Return to School in a Landscape Altered by Hurricane Sandy.” School Library Journal. 6 Nov. 2012. 19 Nov. 2013
Li, Brain. “Brooklyn Tech Sandy days.” Online interview. 16 Nov. 2013
