No decision on making up missed school day

MOSES LAKE - District officials in Othello and Moses Lake haven't decided yet how to make up the day of school lost to a severe thunderstorm Sunday.

Classes were canceled in Moses Lake and Othello Monday, due to the storm and the issues resulting from it. Classes continued as scheduled in Ephrata, Warden and Soap Lake.

The storm knocked out electricity all over the county, but superintendent Michelle Price said she decided to close school Monday due to downed electrical lines. Grant County Public Utility District managers called early Monday morning, Price said, and explained electrical lines had been knocked down around some schools.

Others were in enough of a precarious position that PUD officials didn't want kids around the buildings until the damage was repaired, Price said.

"There were too many live wires," she said. Lakeview Terrace, Garden Heights and Knolls Vista elementary schools, Moses Lake High School and Chief Moses Middle School were the schools most affected, Price said. They account for more than half the students in the district, and under those circumstances, she said, it made sense to close school.

Moses Lake Christian Academy was also closed for the day as staff and volunteers cleared the school's property of fallen branches.

When electrical service was interrupted it discombobulated the whole system in Othello, district superintendent George Juarez said. While no electrical lines fell, the lack of power led district officials to cancel school district-wide, he said.

Othello district officials built two snow days into the school calendar, Juarez said. The tentative plan is to use one of those days, depending on whether or not they're needed to make up days with actual snow, he said.

Traditionally Moses Lake officials make up any days missed at the end of the year, Price said. District officials will defer any decision on makeup days until spring, "when we know how many days we have to make up," she said.