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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sandpoint Classrooms Condemned Inspectors Find Roof Damage At Farmin-Stidwell Elementary

Building inspectors condemned six classrooms at a Bonner County elementary school Thursday after heavy snow damaged the roof and truss system.

The damage at Farmin-Stidwell Elementary, along with a roof that collapsed earlier at Sandpoint High School and Priest River Elementary, prompted the district to cancel all classes next week.

Christmas vacation was supposed to end Monday for teachers and students. Superintendent Max Harrell called off school for another week because of the damage and safety concerns.

Inspectors are visiting the district’s 16 schools to make sure they are safe. Work crews, including about 100 National Guard troops are still trying to remove snow from many of the school roofs.

Snow drifts crushed the top of Farmin-Stidwell Elementary while troops were trying to remove the piles.

“The roof hasn’t actually come down but we have cracks in the ceilings and walls and some problems with trusses,” said Sid Rayfield, the district’s maintenance and operations director.

The inspectors came in and condemned a section that included six classrooms built within the last six months. Ceiling tiles in the school gym have also fallen and water flooded onto the gym’s hardwood floor.

“We have water all over under the wood and we are counting the floor as a total loss,” Rayfield said, adding that parts of Sandpoint High School will also likely be condemned.

The Farmin-Stidwell roof was so unstable that workers shoveling snow had to be tethered to a bucket truck that lowered them on to the roof.

A construction crew has already placed supports inside the school to make sure the roof doesn’t completely cave in.

“At this point it should hold it up enough so we can get people back up there to finish shoveling,” Rayfield said. He had no estimate on the repair costs.

Earlier this week the roof over the auditorium at Sandpoint High School collapsed, causing more than $100,000 worth of damage. Roof repairs at Priest River Elementary are expected to cost $72,000.

The National Guard troops are supposed to leave Saturday, but district officials hope to keep them here for another six days. The drifts are so large on some school roofs they are being knocked down with water from high-powered, pressurized sprayers.

Boundary County faced a similar battle this week. It lost a section of the gym roof at Valley View Elementary and melting snow flooded several rooms at the high school.

Still, classes are expected to resume Monday.

“The present plan is to open all the schools,” said Boundary County emergency coordinator Bob Graham. “If we can’t use Valley View the students will be sent elsewhere.”

Flooding has not been a major problem so far in either Bonner or Boundary counties. Crews removed several ice jams in Deep Creek and Trail Creek before the high water did much damage, Graham said.

“We are still getting quite a bit of rain even though every time I talk to the Weather Service, they say we aren’t,” Graham joked.

The “catastrophe” that brought in the most calls on New Year’s Day, he said, was when the television translator station went down.

“We got calls at the sheriff’s department, the command center and I even got some at home,” Graham said.

“No one got to see the football games and we got lots of calls about it.”

In Bonner County, Rapid Lightning Creek and Gold Creek had overflowed their banks and washed out a section of road.

Crews were working on the areas Thursday trying to divert the water and open the road.

, DataTimes