Groff students settling into new campuses

MOSES LAKE – The Moses Lake School District is settling students and teachers into classrooms  

Groff Elementary will be closed for the remainder of the school year after electrical issues resulted in the injury of an unidentified individual. The school was originally planned to be closed March 3 through March 7, with students attending classes from home. However, at the March 6 school board meeting, it was announced that the school would remain closed for the remainder of the school year.  

The district decided relocation of students would be the best option. The kindergarten and second-grade students were moved to Lakeview Elementary School. The first grade and life skills program were moved to Garden Heights Elementary. The third-grade classes were moved to Longview. The fourth and fifth graders were moved to Vanguard Academy. 

“I think the kids are doing as well as they can be,” MLSD Director of Public Relations Ryan Shannon said. “They seem excited. I know that I've talked with the principal of Groff, and she's, she's kind of stationed over at Vanguard with our fourth and fifth graders. And her statement, which has been great, is that the kids, kids love it. They get to go to high school early.”  

Teachers transitioned alongside their students to the new locations and physical education and music instructors continue to provide instruction to their students at the new sites. 

“What I can say is that learning continues,” Shannon said. “We have kids engaged in reading and fundamentals and learning about science and math, and they seem to be doing and transitioning. Well, the beautiful thing about being a kid is you're a little bit more flexible.”  

Shannon said there have been some challenges with staff adjusting because one school was split between four different campuses.  

“They're all professional, and they are doing the best they can to provide ongoing learning for our kids,” Shannon said. “I think the best example of that is that the kids aren't necessarily seeing any changes. The facility may have changed, but the learning hasn't, and their teacher hasn't. That's kind of a big win for us on that one.”  

Shannon said there haven’t been any updates in regard to how the repairs are going in the district.  

“We continue to work through it. We have been working with some qualified forensic investigators, contractors and obviously, local and state agencies that are looking at just the facility,” Shannon said. “They're looking through documentation and making sure that we are staying within the contract for that facility. I have no real updates on where we are in repairs. I just know that we'll have more on that in the coming time, but they're just continuing to kind of dig in and take a look at what is going on with that facility.”