GREELEY, Colo. -- The damage to a four-inch water line feeding into Greeley's Meeker Elementary School is worse than expected.
The water line ruptured in several locations Sunday night, after a 20-inch water main burst a few blocks away.
The school has been closed since then. There has been no water and sewer service for three days. Now, the district is making plans to get students back into classrooms elsewhere.
"We are making contingency plans for the students who will remain at the school," said Greeley-Evans School District spokeswoman Theresa Myers.
She said 5th grade and special needs students will utilize the portable classrooms on the Meeker campus.
"Portable restrooms and wash stations have been set up outside," she said.
Myers told Denver7 that students in grades K-4 will be bused to the nearby Generations Church, "which has graciously offered to help."
"Beginning tomorrow [Thursday] morning, parents should drop their students off at Meeker," she said. "The district will make sure they get to the church."
"We have a lot of space that sits (empty) during the week," said Eric Ebbinghaus, one of the pastors at the church. "When we heard that the family at Meeker was in need of a location, it was kind of a no-brainer to open up the space and make ourselves available."
Meeker teachers spent the day at the church preparing materials for class.
Ebbinghaus said they have space which has been turned into a cafeteria.
"The district brought in equipment to keep the milk cold," he said. "Breakfast will be served in the classrooms. Lunch will be brought into the school."
Ebbinghaus added that parents should not bring students to the church themselves because they don't have a driveway set up to handle all the traffic.
He said buses will pull up to the south "Kids" entrance and will drop students off and pick up them up again.
"I'm going to be ready for the buses with an air horn," he said. "We're really looking forward to having the extra activity and being able to share our space with the kids and bless them and we're sure parents are ready to have them back at school too."
