A Capitol Heights elementary school is still recovering from an earthquake that shook the Washington area two weeks ago. The students at Bradbury Heights Elementary spent two days at their school before the earthquake shook ceiling tiles ajar, caused leaks in the piping, and cracked the cinder block and mortar walls in countless locations. The school was closed three days during the first full week, and student’s haven’t been back since, as engineers declared the brick school building unsafe.
School officials haven’t decided when and how Bradbury Heights will be reopened, according to Briant Coleman, spokesman for Prince George’s County Public Schools.
Students have been bused 5 miles away to a temporary location since Tuesday, the vacant G. Gardner Shugart Middle School in Temple Hills.
All told, the move went as smoothly as possible, according to Denise Lynch, the principal of Bradbury Heights for the past eight years. Crews began packing up desks chairs and other items Aug. 26. The following Saturday, teachers were allowed back in the school for a limited time to gather bare essentials from their classrooms.
Meanwhile, maintenance officials were preparing G. Gardner Shugart to accommodate students for the first time in two years.
“I have a wonderful staff, and they understood the urgency of the situation and rose to the occasion like they always do,” Lynch said.
Another missed day of classes, courtesy of the widespread power outages caused by Hurricane Irene, gave officials a three-day weekend to prepare G. Gardner Shugart for classes on Tuesday.
Students haven’t missed a day since.
The transition is ongoing. Boxes of computers, textbooks and supplies line the empty classrooms and halls, waiting to be shipped to Temple Hills. New bus routes will be ready this week for students who would have otherwise walked to school.
Lynch said she would prefer to stay at their temporary home the whole year.
“I believe it would be in the best interest of the children, the families and the staff to stay,” Lynch said. “The transition in the middle of the school year is hard, and given the amount of work we have this year, to ask everyone to regroup at the building a second time is too much.”
The damage could be completely repaired in the next two weeks, as most of the cracked walls and broken bricks have been resealed or replaced, according to Vincent Curl, facilities supervisor for the school system.
