Some good news for parents, students, teachers and staff at Sault Area Middle School.
In a special school board meeting Thursday evening, Supt. Amy Scott-Kronemeyer announced that the school has been cleared by inspectors to open back up this Monday, Feb. 24.
This comes after two weeks of the school being closed due to a partial roof collapse back on Feb. 8. That collapse broke a water pipe and flooded parts of the school with 20,000 square feet of water.
For much of those two weeks, the school resorted to virtual learning while repairs were made and clean-up took place.
During the board meeting, Scott-Kronemeyer explained the process of not only the clean up but also the process of getting all the necessary organizations together to make sure the school is safe for staff and students to return.
"No matter who was at our table, we had the same goal in mind and that was to ensure the safety of our staff and students. As long as we kept that at the center of the focus, we knew that everyone was pulling in that direction and that made it easier. I was overwhelmed with gratitude that we could take the steps necessary to ensure the safety of our staff and students. We had to get through a lot of steps to get to this place of opening up Monday, " Scott-Kronemeyer said.
She also presented a PowerPoint slide show going into detail about the collapse, what has been done so far, and what needs to be done.
While there were just over a dozen in attendance at the meeting, around 140 people watched it online.
Marci LaHuis was the only one in attendance who addressed the school board and Scott-Kronemeyer.
"First and foremost, I really appreciate my daughter and my stepson are in middle school so I really appreciate the fact that you send out text messages and emails. I know coming off COVID, distance learning is harder for the children than it would be for them to be in school so I am excited for them to go back. Thank you for all that you guys have done to make sure the building is safe," LaHuis said.
Scott-Kronemeyer did, however, emphasize that parts of the middle school roof must be brought up to new building codes this summer before students can return in the fall.
