Roof Leak Springs 7th- And 8th-Graders They Get Holiday In Kettle Falls After Rain Hits During Re-Roofing

Fri., Sept. 19, 1997

By John Craig johnc@spokesman.com

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Kettle Falls Middle School will stay home again today because of a leak in their wing of the school during a re-roofing project.

Superintendent Kurt Matter said fifth- and sixth-graders will be expected in class as usual. Except for one classroom, their portion of the building was not affected by the heavy rainfall that poured into three-fourths of the upper classes’ wing Wednesday morning.

Classes are expected to resume Monday for seventh- and eighth-graders. They will be relocated in other portions of the middle school building and in an annex that hasn’t been used for classes in two years.

Matter said the amount of damage hasn’t been determined, but it will be in the thousands of dollars. The loss could have been worse, he said, except for students, parents and staff members who moved computers minutes before a new leak would have doused them.

Most of the damage - which is expected to be covered by insurance - appears to involve ceiling tiles, light fixtures and carpeting, Matter said. He said the question of determining fault will be left to insurance agents.

The seventh- and eighth-grade wing was being re-roofed by G&M Construction of Sandpoint. The work was the last of a summerlong project to re-roof the district’s buildings under a $425,000 bond measure voters approved in May.

, DataTimes

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