SUMAS, Wash. – Sumas Elementary School is being retired early.
It was hit hard by the November floods and Nooksack Valley Schools Superintendent Matt Galley says it’s beyond repair.
He says students and staff have been moved to other schools in the district.
“Sumas Elementary is now a part of Nooksack Everson Elementary and the middle school,” said Galley. “And we had school today and we’re just trying to get more and more kids there to those schools each day as we get out of the flood waters and figure out where they’ve been displaced to.”
Many families have been displaced but he’s pleased that they’ve had almost 70% of the Sumas Elementary population in school this week.
District voters passed a bond to build a new Sumas Elementary two years ago and he’s hopeful that it will be open sometime next Spring.
“We know that they’re going to walk into to a brand new school next school year for sure,” said Galley. “If some things work out better than expected then maybe that will happen before the school year.”
The district’s transportation office and garage were the only other facilities that were badly damaged by flooding.
All the district’s buses were saved.
Listen to the full interview with Galley on our Podcast page.