Almira school to be rebuilt by fall 2023
Almira Elementary and Middle school students returned to portables earlier this month after a fire in October. The campus will be rebuilt though after area legislators helped secure funding for a new campus.
COURTESY PHOTO/DAN READ
A fire took the 70-year-old campus shown here away from the community of Almira in October, but recent legislation will see the campus at 310 S. Third St. replaced with a new facility with about 10,000 square feet of space and modern safety features.
ALMIRA - There was no school that day. The power was out and people were at home, but then a fire broke out in a building without sprinklers.
Almira’s Elementary and Middle School sat on top of the same crawlspace as a school that burned down in the 1950s. Once the flames reached the old open crawl space, the fire spread beneath the building, engulfing it, said Gene Sementi, Almira School Rebuild project manager.
“The fire was complete; there wasn’t a book or crayon or piece of paper or desk or chair that made it through,” he said.
After securing around $13 million in funding from the legislature, Sementi said the construction of Almira’s new school could wrap up by the fall of 2023.
The structure will sit on the old lot but is larger than before. The approximately 10,000 square foot increase will stand two stories tall in areas and may also act as a community center. He said that the school would include a stage and a bigger lunchroom and gym.
Almira’s new school will have more classroom spaces than needed to accommodate more students in the future. Unlike the prior 70-year-old school, this project will be up to date with all fire, energy, building and other codes, including sprinklers, Sementi said.
Sementi has spent around half of every week in Almira since the Oct. 12 fire. Dan Read, Almira School District superintendent, asked him for help after knowing Sementi when serving as West Valley School District superintendent for about 30 years.
The small town of approximately 300 people was scattered when the 2021 Almira school fire burned down the town’s central point. Sementi said the school was in pieces; students were going to the school in Coulee, Hartline gym and Almira’s community center and church.
After a few months of trying to secure portables, the town now has six sets of classrooms and pieces of the existing playground on the football field. He said the makeshift campus also includes a cafeteria, two restroom trailers and another for a kitchen.
Almira’s students only returned to what is acting as their temporary school two weeks ago. Sementi said that, despite everything that has happened, the community is pushing forward; the school’s charred remains were removed soon after the fire to help everyone move on.
“To have them all be back in the lunchroom at the same time,” Sementi said, “To have them be able to go to recess together and play basketball; it’s really been pretty heartwarming.”
Kelsey Hoppe, Almira Elementary and Middle School principal, said students have been resilient throughout the constant transition. Seeing them all back together talking and playing is a unique experience.
The portable school accommodates around 136 students, with only one or two families not returning since the fire. She said the state’s pandemic restrictions lifting made the process run more smoothly as students came back together on the football field campus.
Hoppe said the school district has kept in mind the differences in which children learn. The new school will have flexible learning areas to help expand learning opportunities. Almira is also taking community input on the project.
The school district already hosted two community meetings, with a third set for Mar. 31. More than 50 people have already given suggestions, she said.
“People who live in Almira, love Almira,” Hoppe said .“This just brings the community that much closer.”
