By Denise Smith Amos
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HYDE PARK - Uncounted books, papers, desks, toys and educational tools were among items lost in the rubble of the Summit Country Day School collapse over the weekend.

But Sprite the snake survived the ordeal just fine, a school teacher said Wednesday.

There were no injuries - even to animals - when a main wall fell and three floors collapsed onto themselves and slid down part of Summit's Upper School building Sunday.

Joseph Devlin, head of the school, said the school lost books, computers, furniture and records. One technology coordinator noted that 20 desktop computers were on the first floor computer lab, now under rubble.

Students and teachers said there were high school records, senior portfolios and other important documents in some of the lost offices on the building's third and fourth floors.

The fate of Sprite the corn snake, a non-venomous constrictor that is loved and cuddled by many of Summit's youngest students, was initially uncertain.

Sprite usually spends weekends in a terrarium in a corner of one of the Montessori classrooms in the basement of the crumbled part of the building. Several visitors to the damage site wondered aloud this week about his fate.

On Wednesday, his owner, Montessori teacher Karen Koch, said Sprite survived the collapse and was rescued Monday night by a construction worker who noticed a snake, lying still in a corner of a classroom.

The snake had gone into a type of hibernation.

"I thought the cold had gotten to him, but he thawed out and is fine," said Koch.

She's had Sprite for more than four years, since he was 5 inches long. Today he's 3 feet long.

Enquirer reporter Jennifer Edwards contributed to this report. E-mail damos@enquirer.com.