Storms damage area schools

The academic year is over for Eastern Iowa's kindergarten through grade 12 students and staff but that didn't spare schools from the impact of severe weather.

While the damage was restricted to flooded outdoor fields for some districts - including Linn-Mar and West Liberty - others weren't as fortunate.

Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock of the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District said buildings experienced 'minor water issues” while Steve Hanson of the West Liberty schools describe the impact as 'just a couple leaks here and there.” Superintendent Mark Schneider said facilities in the Mid-Prairie Community School District experienced roof leaks.

A June 30 email from Buildings and Grounds Manager Rob Kleinsmith stated that only four of the Cedar Rapids Community School District's 31 schools sustained damage, but the severity varied between structures. Two feet of stormwater inundated mechanical equipment in Washington High School's boiler room. Additional inches of water flooded a new mechanical room, damaging equipment not yet in use.

Across the river at Jefferson High School, a foot and a half of water crowded the auditorium's seating section and 10 inches of water damaged stored supplies in the lower locker rooms. Under-construction classrooms sustained minor damage as well, Kleinsmith wrote.

A backed-up sink resulted in the flooding of a Truman Elementary School classroom while water in the window wells led to flooding in the lower level of Franklin Middle School, but Kleinsmith classified the damage as minor. The water in the Jefferson auditorium and at Washington has been cleaned up, he wrote.

District administrators were unable to provide an update Tuesday.

Via email, Anamosa Community School District Superintendent Lisa Beames wrote Strawberry Hill Elementary School weathered the worst for district buildings.

'It blew under doors and due to the large amount of water in a short time the stormwater intakes could not keep up,” she wrote. 'This caused some flow into Strawberry Hill through a nearby doorway.”

Anamosa also lost a press box at the football field, as well as a push mower a drag and other items staff could not remove from outdoor fields before the storms. Beames wrote all of those things should be repaired or replaced by the time they need to be used. However, improvements and construction are underway - including locker room, gym improvements and constructing a new performing arts center at Anamosa High School as well as HVAC renovations both there and at the elementary schools - and 'the weather is not helping us,” Beames wrote.

'The days or time lost are having the greatest impact on other projects across the district,” she continued.

Work with the district's insurance company is underway and, as a result, Beames said no dollar amount estimate is yet available for the damage.

'No lives were lost ... so it was a good day,” she wrote.

l Comments: (319) 398-8273 or meryn.fluker@sourcemedia.net