Families of students at the two Portland schools most heavily damaged by recent winter storms have learned their buildings won’t welcome them back before summer. Markham Elementary School and Robert Gray Middle School have both been closed since the January storm that cut power, damaged homes and businesses, and led to the deaths of at least 15 people.
An initial assessment at Robert Gray Middle School revealed about 10 breaks in water lines due to power outages and freezing temperatures, along with extensive damage to ceilings, walls and saturated floors.
Portland Public Schools
All schools in Oregon’s largest district were closed for four days in January, as icy roads and sidewalks made transportation treacherous, and uncertain conditions inside school buildings led district officials to be cautious about resuming classes.
Four school campuses were hit especially hard by the weather: Forest Park Elementary School and the Kelly Center’s Head Start program, in addition to Markham and Robert Gray schools. Forest Park was largely able to accommodate students through a blend of distance learning and use of portable classrooms while repairs were underway, while the Kelly Center had preschoolers relocate to nearby elementary school buildings.
Several hundred students at the other two schools — Markham and Robert Gray, have continued to attend other schools while repairs and evaluations took place. Now, PPS officials have concluded that students at those schools won’t be able to return before the end of the school year.
“We have gone back and forth on the sequence and scope, and write today with bad news,” said a newsletter sent to Markham parents Tuesday.
Then in bold letters, the letter signed by chief of schools Jon Franco and chief operating officer Dan Jung said, “Due to the extent of the damage and sheer magnitude of mitigation and repairs, the building will remain closed for the rest of the school year.”
Starting Jan. 30, students were sent to four different schools while work crews made repairs at Markham: Capitol Hill, Hayhurst, Maplewood and Rieke, with Jackson Middle School available as a single dropoff point for families with children who were attending different schools.
The message to Markham parents said the district had “options” it was considering for “teaching and learning going forward.” According to KOIN-TV, Markham parents attended a meeting Thursday night and had concerns about plans for the rest of the school year.
Families at Robert Gray Middle School received similar bad news this week.
“Due to the extent of the damage and sheer magnitude of mitigation and repairs, the work will likely not be complete until midsummer,” Franco and Jung said in a letter to families Tuesday.
Unlike Markham students, Gray’s entire student body has been moved to a single building together: Jackson Middle School, since Jan. 30. The message to Gray families said that given the repair timeline, students “could remain at Jackson Middle School for the remainder of the school year.”
In previous messages to the Gray and Markham school communities, district administrators laid out the extent of damage to the buildings.
“Facilities staff continue to remove damaged materials — including pipes, flooring, ceiling tiles, and drywall — from the lower wing of the school, which includes 15 classrooms and two common areas,” the district said in a message to Robert Gray Middle School families, also noting the need to identify and abate asbestos making efforts “slow and incremental work.”
A message to Markham families made a similar warning about the presence of asbestos and said 11 classrooms and three common areas were particularly hard hit by damage including to “pipes, flooring, ceiling tiles, and drywall.”