ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Anchorage-area students have returned to school after the district closed for a week so staff and contractors could inspect buildings and repair damage following the magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
All but three of the Anchorage School District’s dozens of schools reopened Monday after the Nov. 30 quake shook southcentral Alaska, disrupting power and cracking roads, the Anchorage Daily News reported .
Several principals said that teachers and staff were focusing on ensuring students felt safe during their return Monday. Some students were greeted with hot chocolate, welcome back signs or cookies.
Many students at Gladys Wood Elementary School were riding the bus when the earthquake struck. About a dozen teachers greeted students at their bus stops Monday, principal Cindy Hemry said.
“So we thought it would be good to have some teachers spread out at various stops to talk with them and if they had any anxiety, to kind of lighten the mood a little bit,” Hemry said.
At Bear Valley Elementary School, crisis-response dogs went classroom to classroom to comfort children.
Some schools had lingering damage such as broken furniture or missing ceiling tiles, superintendent Deena Bishop said.
Students at Bayshore Elementary School were told they couldn’t drink the tap water following the discovery of a leak, said Catherine Esary, district spokeswoman. The leak has been fixed, but the district is waiting for water testing results. Bottled water was delivered to the school.
Eagle River Elementary School and Gruening Middle School will remain closed for the rest of the year because of extensive quake damage. King Tech High School is scheduled to reopen Wednesday.
The elementary students will be split between two schools. The middle-schoolers are moving to Chugiak High School.
Integrating the middle school classes into the high school will have logistical challenges, said Allison Susel, the acting principal of Chugiak High. Administrators will examine how the process is working and make tweaks over winter break, she said.
“I think we’re trying to find a balance of welcoming them into Chugiak as well as letting them have their own space,” Sussel said. “It’s a pretty big change, and we’re not wanting to overwhelm them.”
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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com
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