PLAMONDON - On Sept. 2, about four and a half months after the flood gates opened, the school doors will re-open at École Plamondon.
School staff and Northern Lights Public Schools officials were looking forward to welcoming students back for the new school year after a massive flood closed the school on April 18 — two months before the end of the last school year.
That afternoon a burst water pipe under the school sent waves of water through the K-12 building that also houses Plamondon’s community library.
The damaged closed the school and sent students and staff to temporary classrooms across the region.
Construction crews have been working since the flood and through the summer to get the building ready for the new school year.
According to Nicole Garner, a spokesperson with Northern Lights Public Schools, Ecole Plamondon administrative staff returned to the school in August, while teachers came back a few days ago.
“We also brought some staff back to work early to sort through boxes that were moved back to the school from the temporary locations that students and staff were at last year,” she said.
Staff are pleased with the work done, Garner said, explaining that floors and walls have been replaced. It’s not all completed, she said, as other repairs and replacements are still ongoing and will be updated in the coming weeks. Even though classes will resume, Garner says there is a bit more work to be done.
“Instead of re-installing cabinets that were decades old, we have decided to replace them,” she said. “It will take a few months to build and install all of the new cabinetry.”
At the most recent NLPS board of meeting, trustees officially thanked Ecole Plamondon staff and the community for the over-and-above work that has been done to re-open the school.
Repair costs for the flooding were originally estimated at $2.5 million, but Garner said, at this point, officials with the school division don’t have a final cost as they are still working on replacing destroyed contents.
