Students at a school in southeast Tarrant County will attend classes at new campuses after the school building underwent water damage on February 19.
Busted water pipes at James A. Arthur Intermediate School in Kennedale caused serious flooding and destruction, making the school no place for students to take classes.
The district announced the development on its Twitter page. According to a tweet by a WFAA reporter retweeted by the Kennedale ISD Twitter page, a water pipe burst, causing the ground to shift. The walls shifted and caused structural damage to the building, with ten classrooms damaged.
As a result, classes were canceled on February 20. An emergency meeting was held that night, and the board decided that students would be moved to other campuses while officials worked on fixing the damage.
Fifth graders will attend classes at R.F. Patterson Elementary School, while sixth graders will be moved to Kennedale Junior High School.
Relocation of the students will begin on February 28, the district said. Bus routes will be adjusted to match the change.
Principal Cari Clark expressed sadness at the incident. “This is a true heartbreak,” she told WFAA.
Clark said that the most striking part of the water damage was seeing the bricks off of the walls and water coming out of the bricks. However, she said that she is grateful that no staff or students were in the building when it happened.
Clark promised that authorities have a plan to “reinvent those environments” so that students will have “a good learning experience the rest of this school year.”
The district said that it would distribute further information to students on the issue later in the week.