Groff Elem. to be closed remainder of school year

MOSES LAKE – Groff Elementary will be closed for the remainder of the school year, according to Moses Lake School District Superintendent Carol Lewis at the March 6 regular school board meeting.  

“What has been done is lots of testing, lots of repairs,” Lewis said. “We first have to figure out exactly what the problem is and then make the proper repairs to the building.” 

Groff students have been attending classes from home all week after an electrical problem caused an unidentified person to be shocked on campus. The school was originally planned to be closed March 3 through March 7.  

“The staff at Groff was amazing. Robbie (Mason, executive director of secondary education) has been supporting them a ton, along with a lot of other people who are not in this room and in this room, and our kids at Groff have been learning from home,” Lewis said. “The teachers have gotten materials for them, and that's going as well as could be expected.” 

Students will continue to work from home until a plan is finalized to shift them into other MLSD campuses. Students will be kept in the same grade level and class as that plan is developed, according to Lewis.  

“Currently, the teachers are working to do remote learning with the kids,” Lewis said. “Then plans are being made to relocate classrooms of teachers and students, intact, to other locations around the buildings.” 

The district released a statement saying the details are being finalized with an eye toward transportation, staffing, classroom placements, support services and overall student well-being in mind.  

The district will have more details in coming days, staff said. 

Last April, a similar situation happened. MLSD Communications Director Ryan Shannon said the electrical problems are related to contractual issues the district has been working on with the Groff general contractor, Richland-based Fowler General Construction. The nearly $27 million school was paid for by a voter approved bond in 2017. The school opened in September 2021.  

“We have had some challenges at Groff elementary with an electrical issue, and people probably recall that we had a similar challenge last year, and some fixes were put in place, and it was believed that those were enough to prevent the issues from reoccurring,” Lewis said during the meeting. “Well, recently, we had some electrical issues reoccur, and we needed to, for the safety of staff and students, close the building to try to do some more tests to try to figure out what's going on,” 

Lewis said the announcement may be sudden and jarring; however, she thinks it’s the most stable option for the students.  

“It's what we need to do in order to not go through a chaotic cycle that where we would say we'll open it and then we'll need to close it again, and potentially, if issues come about, we're just not certain enough about the safety of that building to have kids in there,” Lewis said. “We need to get the construction folks in there to figure out what's going on and to be able to fix it adequately so that we can use the building as intended.” 

    Carol Lewis, superintendent of Moses Lake School District announced Groff Elementary will be closed for the remainder of the school year after a person was shocked on campus. Lewis said students will be moved in grade levels and classrooms to different areas in the district. The final plan will be announced soon.