Community Looks Forward To Rebuilding School

The focus turns to rebuilding following the devastating fire at Mounds Elementary School. The blaze destroyed most of the school last weekend. The students and teachers are already moving forward.

Sunday, October 28th 2007, 5:21 pm

By: News On 6

The focus turns to rebuilding following the devastating fire at Mounds Elementary School. The blaze destroyed most of the school last weekend. The students and teachers are already moving forward. The News On The 6â€™s Chris Wright reports the superintendent of Mounds says the past week has been extremely trying, but the entire community is now looking forward to rebuilding.

Authorities say an accidental electrical problem sparked the fire, which started in the gymnasium, and destroyed the first, second and third grade classrooms.

"Although it's been very trying to go through it, the end result will be a very positive development for our students and our community,â€ said Mounds superintendent Gary Lundy.

Superintendent Lundy says those positive developments begin on Tuesday. That's when kids head back to class. On Sunday, workers put the finishing touches on repaired gas lines. Restored utilities mean the junior high and high schools are back up and running. The district has also made room there for displaced students while it waits for portable classroom trailers to arrive.

After the fire marshal's investigation is officially complete, the focus will shift to getting rid of the rubble. Administrators hope this cleanup will go pretty quickly. They say after they get the students back in school this coming Tuesday, they then hope to start removing all this debris by the end of the week.

Even though debris removal will take a while, Lundy is already envisioning a new and improved Mounds Elementary.

"The end result is going to be much, much better. We'll have a new facility, a modern up to date facility for our students,â€ said Gary Lundy, superintendent.

And while there will be many more trying weeks ahead, the superintendent says the support of the Mounds community helped them through the first one.

"It's been a very, very trying time, but there's been such a tremendous outpouring of support, that it keeps you going even when fatigue tries to take over,â€ said Gary Lundy, superintendent.

The district is not sure exactly when portable classrooms will arrive. The high school did suffer some smoke damage last weekend, but the superintendent says everything in that building has been repaired.

Watch the video: Community To Rebuild School

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