Flooding Forces Oklahoma School To Move

Monday, April 30th 2007, 9:09 pm

By: News On 6

A water main break washes out a Bartlesville elementary school. When teachers arrived at Richard Kane Elementary School Monday morning they found up to four inches of standing water. That flooding forced school administrators to cancel classes. The News On 6â€™s Ashli Sims reports on the district's plan to get more than 400 students back to school.

At Bartlesville's Kane Elementary, the puddles were not confined to the parking lot. Just about the entire school was awash with water, and the library's reading pit was transformed into a wading pool.

"From the point of my desk water started and it came all the way down here and it was up to my ankles down in the corner," 1st grade teacher Julia Smith said.

School leaders say a 6-inch water line under the building burst, flooding the school and canceling classes. Even after hours of work, Julia Smith's classroom is still a sopping mess, and it's hard for her to put a number on what she's lost.

"Over a thousand. Just of my own personal things, because all of the bookcases are mine. My printer was on the floor, I had boxes of books all the way around the whole room," said Smith.

The clean-up is now in full swing; custodians and teachers alike rolled up their pant legs and got busy salvaging what they could. For now, Kane will remain closed, but classes will continue. The district is working with three local churches to house 1st through 5th graders for at least the rest of the week. They say parents can still drop off their children at the east-side of the building, and buses will take them to their temporary classrooms.

"I'm already boxing things up. The 1st grade teachers sat down and said you take this and this, and we'll go in as a team. It's going to be hectic," Smith said.

Pre-K and Kindergartners will remain on the Kane campus, because those classes are held in portable buildings, which weren't affected by the flood. The district doesn't know how much the clean-up will cost, or when everyone will be able to return to the building.

Watch the video: Classes Moving After School Flooded