In the North Building, the art room’s kiln got too hot for the sprinkler system. Laura Richardson, head of the art department, wanted to use the kiln to fire student projects yesterday at medium fire settings. The kiln heated up the small room to a point the sprinkler system could not handle, and the water that doused the room had built up over time, coming out black. The department is having the clay company come out to make sure the kiln is not ruined, and still fully operational.

“The kiln was turned on. Mrs. Richardson came over to use my kiln, and the heat/fire settings  that were programmed in had to be hot enough for her firing to work correctly. It overheated the sensors on the sprinkler system, which has never happened before,” said art teacher Jackie Garcia.

Since it is the end of the school year, both of the South Building’s kilns were in use. Richardson wanted to use the North Building kiln to get her students’ projects done before the end of the year so that she could give them back to her students.

“I was heating up some Ceramics II projects yesterday morning, and the room was so small that the sprinkler systems could not handle the heat. None of the projects were ruined. It should not have happened, but thankfully the sprinklers did their job,” said Richardson.

The particular kiln in the North Building ranges anywhere from $3,700 to $4,400. If it was ruined by the sprinkler system, the art department budget and insurance will most likely cover expenses.