Last modified: Friday, January 9, 2009 1:54 AM EST Water woes close pair of Rehoboth schools BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF REHOBOTH - Beckwith Middle School and Palmer River Elementary School students were sent home early Thursday because the water pump broke at the schools' shared water and septic system. Water tanks were being brought to both Rehoboth schools Thursday for classes today, Dighton-Rehoboth School Superintendent Kathleen Montagano said. The tanks will be replaced as they empty. Bottled water also will be available for students. "We should be set to go. And if we're not," Montagano said she was assembling a contingency plan "so we'll try to get every kid to school." The pump failure "meant that both schools were without water" beyond the amount in their storage tanks, Montagano said. School officials called every student's emergency contact while classes happened as scheduled, Montagano said. An announcement was posted on the school district's Web site. Beckwith students were dismissed at 10:30 a.m., and Palmer River students at 11:15 a.m. However, 18 students were bused to Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School because their parents could not be reached by the dismissal time, Montagano said. Montagano said she was first called about the broken pump shortly before 8 a.m. The kitchen staff is the first to arrive, and "when they turned on the water, they realized there was a problem with it. The water wasn't coming out properly," she said. The pump will be out of operation for a few days, until a new part arrives, she said.