Students return amid repairs to old school building

HARTLINE — Vandals who caused severe flood damage to Almira-Coulee-Hartline High School may have pushed school officials to do something they have been talking about for quite a while.

Coulee-Hartline School District Superintendent Edward Fisk said Wednesday it might be time to build a new high school.

"Its life expectancy has just about been reached," Fisk said of the 1928 school building. "I think this will boost the process of us making a decision about that."

Remodeling the school building, he said, would cost more than rebuilding.

School officials will close off the severely flooded portions of the school. Classes return to normal for all 95 students starting today, for the first time in more than a week.

Two classrooms will be closed in the lower portion of the school, while the remaining classrooms will take on more students.

"We really have a smaller enrollment than we have had in the past," Fisk said. "So, we are able to make it work."

A burglary, which occurred sometime between Nov. 23 and Saturday, cost the school between $12,000 to $15,000 in stolen computers, cameras and digital scales, said Scott Brown, the school's principal.

Before leaving, perpetrators turned on three fire hydrant faucets inside the school, dumping water onto the floor, through the ceiling and into walls. As the water poured from the two-inch diameter spigots, damage continued until it was discovered Saturday morning.

The Grant County Sheriff's Office estimated the damage at up to $300,000 on Monday. Fisk said school officials have not tried to provide a damage estimate.

A repair crew was hired by the school district's insurance company and has worked since Saturday to prevent mold and fix damaged ceilings, walls and floors.

"We've had a huge outpouring of volunteerism," Brown said. "And it hasn't let up at all."

Parents feel outraged by the vandalism, he said. They have been cooperative throughout the ordeal and offered their help.

Schools from several other counties have made offers to provide books and materials to replace those lost in the flooding, he said.

"The insurance company gave us the green light to buy all new replacements," Fisk said.

Some things, like the school's secondary gymnasium, are irreplaceable. Recently, the school had been using the antique gymnasium, original to the building, for a weight lifting room and wrestling.

But the vandals' actions filled the small gym with six to seven inches of standing water, leaving its hardwood floors a total loss, Brown said.

So far, no arrests have been made by the GCSO.

Fisk said they didn't plan to question any students for possible involvement and were leaving the investigation up to law enforcement.

"If we get any information we will pass it along to the sheriff," he said