As flooding damaged the school of Buckeye Local South Elementary and prevented students from attending, St. Joseph Church opened their doors to help.
"It looks like we are going to be able to move into the Catholic church," Superintendent Kim Leonard said. Leonard announced that the school would likely not be able to reopen for months due to the water damage done to its facility.
Rev. William Cross of the church said the inspectors gave their final approval after fire and health inspectors reviewed the church building to determine its suitability.
"(Cross) has been extremely accommodating. He has basically just opened up his church and welcomed us in," Leonard expressed her gratitude for the church's willingness to help the school in an unprecedented situation.
One of the priorities in searching for a temporary site in replacement of the flooded school was location. It was the goal of the school to not require their students to travel far from their hometown for their education.
"We're able to keep all of our students and faculty and staff together at one location, and it's in close proximity to our elementary," Leonard said.
Faculty of three elementary schools came together to transfer supplies and the completion was expected by Thursday to start classes the following day on September 10.
"(We thank) the community for their patience while we are trying to devise this plan," Leonard said.
The church in turn shared that the church location was once used as a school before and their relationship with Superintendent Kim Leonard.
"Kim Leonard is a member of the parish there, so she's familiar with it. When they had their disaster last week, she contacted me about the possibility. For them to use our space until they're alne to get back into their own building."
"We want to help in any way we can," Cross said. Cross reassured that holding school activities at the church facilities will not interfere with church activities and that the space will be strictly sanitized at the end of every day.
