A fuel spill at an Elementary School last month left the building unusable, forcing the Southern Huntingdon County School District to find a way for those Students to keep learning. Elementary School Students going to the same School as middle and high schoolers — it’s the setup School Officials at the Southern Huntingdon County School District say will get them through to the Fall.
Dwayne Northcraft, the Superintendent of the Southern Huntingdon Co. SD saying: “Approximately two and a half weeks ago, we had an oil release of– it was a 10,000 gallon tank, and we had approximately 7,600 gallons of heating fuel oil released into the soil beneath the tank.” That was at Spring Farms Elementary. Northcraft adding: “There could easily be fuel underneath the current elementary. Leaving the students at Spring Farms was not an option.”
Due to potential health and safety concerns and a lack of space at the District’s other Elementary Schools, Northcraft says: “…the only other building that the district that we have is the high school middle school. And so, with the vacant rooms, we created a plan.”
And so the past couple weeks, more than 200 K-5 Students and Staff are roaming the halls. Superintendent Dwayne Northcraft telling us an outsider would assume the Students are in makeshift classrooms. Northcraft, however, saying: “That’s not the case here. We’re very pleased with the fact and feel fortunate with the fact that we have classrooms for all of our students.”
Through the halls we walked, even sitting in on a few classes. Northcraft tells us that COVID taught them a few things, saying: “And so, we were accustomed to using an auxiliary gym for the cafeteria from the distancing perspective. So, we put that plan back in place to kind of, you know, be able to accommodate all the students.”
He says Teachers are reporting the process has been smooth. School Officials expect Spring Farms Elementary to host Students again next Fall.
