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The St. Peter Academy principal taped it up until he could find the time to have it fixed.
Parents at his school beat him to it, though, and had the window fixed without him knowing — and then shocked him with the results.
It's all thanks to Home School Association President Tom Keller, who spotted Innis' taped-up window two weeks ago, he said.
"I asked [Innis] about it and he said the motor broke and the window went down, so he taped it up," Keller explained. "He said he knew a guy but hadn't had a chance to go yet."
"It wasn't a charity thing," Keller explained. "Sometimes you help so many people but you don't have time to stop and help yourself."
Keller knew he could do just that for Innis, and took matters into his own hands.
He spoke to the other HSA members and learned that a first grade parent owns an autobody shop in Englewood. The parent kindly offered to fix Innis' vehicle, if HSA could cover the cost of the piece.
HSA members pooled their money as Keller came up with a plan to get the car into the shop without Innis, of Kearny, knowing.
Keller reached out to Innis' wife, Diana, who was all in.
On Monday, Dec. 12, Diana Innis came to the school so she could take her husband's car to the shop. As fate would have it, a Kindergarten teacher and sub both called out sick that day, meaning Innis would be the one filling in.
Perfect. He'd be busy for hours.
All was going according to plan until Innis spotted his wife in the halls. Immediately, he thought something was wrong.
"She told me the internet went out at home and that she had some things she needed to print out for meetings," the principal recalled. "She said she would be working in his office."
Cool. Innis bought the alibi.
Sometime around 4 p.m., Innis' car was ready. The shop even threw in a wash so that it would be nice and shiny.
Once the car was back in the lot, Keller told Innis he had something he wanted to show him.
They walked out to the parking lot together, and Innis was surprised to see his sparkling car. As he walked around to the other side, he noticed the window had been fixed.
"No way, is that why my wife was here today?" Innis asks Keller in the video.
Innis walks around the vehicle, stunned.
"I know you said you were a little busy, so we took care of you, man," Keller tells him.
Innis, who spent 10 years teaching middle school social studies in Secaucus, said what Keller and HSA did was the nicest thing anyone had done for him in his 12 years of education.
"I was in disbelief," Innis tells Daily Voice. "I'm not a very emotional person, never have been. But this had me speechless."
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