Wellpinit School District delays start date again due to fire

The Wellpinit School District will delay the start of the school year again, based on the recommendation of officials who are overseeing firefighting efforts in the area. Kris Herda, principal of the district’s middle school and high school, said grades 1-12 will start school on Sept. 8. Kindergarteners will start the next day, Sept. 9. The school year originally was to have started on Aug. 26 and 31, respectively, and has already been delayed once. The district of about 350 students is located on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The nearby Carpenter Road Fire has burned nearly 47,000 acres on the reservation. Herda said earlier in the week that delaying the school year will mean firefighters and equipment won’t have to share the roads with school buses.