COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Beach Court Elementary in Denver and all Adams 14 schools were closed Tuesday because of severe storm damage.
Adams 14 officials said most of the schools in the district are at least 50 years old and sustained flood damage during Monday’s storm. Classes have been canceled at all 13 schools in the district.
“This? I've never seen anything like this in the district so far. The water just went everywhere and it just -- you couldn't stop it,” said Gionni Thompson, the chief operating officer for the district.
All of the district’s 7,500 students were out of class Tuesday as Thompson said all 13 buildings sustained damage from the storm.
Thompson said Kearney Middle School in Commerce City took the brunt of the damage.
The buildings are aging and cannot withstand strong storms anymore, said Thompson.
“This definitely puts us in a situation where we really need to go to our community and kind of have a serious talk about a bond and a mill levy to put new schools in place. It’s just these 50-year-old buildings just don’t hold up to today’s severe weather,” he said.
Beach Court Elementary, the only Denver Public School on the closure list, was hit hard during the storm. Hail broke several windows at the school, forcing officials to cancel classes Tuesday.
Beach Court Elementary School sustained extensive glass damage from the hail storm yesterday. It is closed today for clean up and repairs pic.twitter.com/kYn0ah9JEU
— Daryl Orr (@WxTrackerDaryl) May 9, 2017
Maintenance staff were dispatched to make repairs and get the schools in operating condition as soon as possible. Several windows at Beach Court Elementary were boarded up.
Denver Public School officials said they will continue to assess the building and will follow with a message Wednesday.
In addition to cancelling classes at all Adams 14 schools, officials have also canceled all Tuesday sports and activities.
Denver's Laradon Hall Society for Exceptional Children and Adults said all of its on-campus programs would be closed for the rest of the week and that the center would reopen Monday.
All Adams 14 schools will be back in session as normal on Wednesday except for Kearney Middle School, the district announced Tuesday evening.
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