First, my sincere thanks to everyone who volunteered time, labor, tools, food, and expertise during our recent battle with Mother Nature. We had so many people helping that I will not even try to list them. People were here from Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and many towns in Iowa.  I can not thank our custodial staff (Lonnie Hartema, Kevin Bolton, and Barb Scoles) enough for their countless hours of labor through the WHOLE summer.  Thanks also needs to go out to Lindsey Beecher, our superintendent, who not only coordinated efforts but was was on the frontlines working with our volunteers. We are very fortunate for the people who make up our school community of Dike-New Hartford. It is a small miracle to be starting this school year on schedule.  Everyone here is very appreciative of our "new" school.

 

On June 5, we had 5 to 12 inches of water and mud throughout the school building.  There had never been water in the building before.  On that fateful night, there were several people sandbagging at the building when the water started to rise so fast that they knew they could not keep up.  Immediately, they began going through the building- moving books from the lower shelves in the library, taking out lower drawers in file cabinets, picking crates up from the floor, etc.  They managed to save a lot of material that otherwise would have been ruined.

 

As soon as the water was no longer flowing into the building, we began to squeegee mud out of the rooms, into the hallways, and out the doors.  Power washers were brought in to further clean the halls and room floors.  This was a 2 1/2 day project just to clean up enough to allow safe movement within the building.  In the meantime, a structural engineer examined the building and declared it sound for future use. 

 

Another full day was needed to empty the gymnasium that was full of materials that had been collected for the tornado victims.  The next day we called in all available teachers.   Our communities were asked for volunteers to help.  Over 200 people arrived to help on those two days.  Teachers boxed up their materials to be removed from the building.  The many, many boxes needed for this huge task were donated by Standard Distribution.  Volunteers removed all desks, chairs, file cabinets, boxes, TV's, computers, etc. from the rooms.  Outside, they were washed, loaded onto pallets, and transported to the Remington Seed Warehouse for storage.  Transportation was provided by Dennis Krueger and Randy Dieken.  While this was happening, other groups were ripping out carpet, cabinets, and tile.  When we finished, the building was a shell. 

 

Our next battle was the gym floor.  First the wood needed to be removed.  Tom Stancliffe brought his tractor and loader into the gym to pry up the boards.  That afternoon we joyfully welcomed the Central College football team and coaches to help with this enormous task.  The next day(Saturday) we had to tear up all of the metal strips the wood had been fastened to. They were nailed into the cement floor.   Luckily, the football team returned in the morning to help remove the metal strips.

 

The next week was spent finishing up the work within the building while Steamatic cleaned the building and removed the lower four feet of any drywall.  An air quality professional was brought in to monitor the rooms once cleaning was finished.  When the rooms were declared to be completely clean by the air quality person, volunteers were again brought in to paint the entire interior of the building.  This was followed by new carpeting and baseboard moldings.  Some ceiling tiles were also replaced.  The removed drywall was replaced and painted.

 

The building was now ready to move into.  Volunteers once again loaded and unloaded the semis.  All stored materials were brought back to New Hartford.  Boxes were vacuumed with a hepavac.  Equipment was cleaned with disinfectant.  Each teacher's classroom materials were moved to his/her room. All of the folding tables we had in the district were placed in rooms to store materials on until our cabinetry is finished.  Computers, televisions, and all of the library books were also returned.  The new gym floor was the next thing installed.  It will still need to be sanded, painted, and sealed, but it should be ready sometime in September.

That's my back-to-school report on how I spent my summer vacation.