MOSES LAKE – North Elementary was closed Wednesday after an unforeseen water issue.  

According to Moses Lake School District’s Director of Public Relations Ryan Shannon, the City of Moses Lake has construction underway nearby, opened a fire hydrant and debris got into the water. Then, when teachers started to arrive at around 8:30 a.m., an unfamiliar smell had filled the building, which caused MLSD to make the decision to bus students to an alternative location. 

“The kids weren’t even in the classrooms yet,” Shannon said. “We wanted to make sure they were safe, and we didn’t know what had caused the issue. So, we decided it would be best to move all of the students.”   

The students were transported to Larson Heights Elementary via district transportation. North has 295 students enrolled and everyone who attended school Wednesday was transported to Larson. Staff did attendance and rode the buses with students. The district also received assistance from Moses Lake Police Department to assist with the efforts.  

Parents and guardians must pick up their children from Larson Heights as soon as possible.  

“It's going amazing,” Shannon said. “The staff at Larson and North are working together to reunite parents with their students. The kids who are still there are eating lunch right now. Then they are going to see how many students are left and figure out what their education is going to look like for the rest of the day.”  

If parents or guardians cannot pick up their child, the student will remain at Larson Heights for the remainder of the day.  

Bus riders will be transported by district transportation to the students' regular bus stop. Students that walk home from school will be bused back to North to walk home at the end of the day.  

“Our crews are in there right now flushing the system to help get all of that sediment out of the school's water system, and so should North Elementary be back open tomorrow,” Shannon said. “At this point, that is our anticipation.” 

However, Shannon said district officials are still waiting on the sign off from the Grant County Health District and some other factors. MLSD is hoping to be able to open North back up Thursday, but that is not confirmed as of noon Wednesday.  

“The city has said that it should be good to go, that there's no real harm, but we want to make sure that we get the full sign-off before we put kids back in there,” Shannon said.  

The Columbia Basin Herald will update this story as more information becomes available.