Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Knox Administration Building custodian Sid Jones stands in the front stairwell of the building, which is under repair. "It's amazing," said Jones on how quickly earthquake repairs are being made. He said the building is being reinforced with 16-inch beams and expects fixed areas to be in better condition than before the Feb. 28 quake.

Schools, students escape serious damage

Some repairs may wait till summer break

ALMA D. SHARPE, THE OLYMPIAN

Final repairs are being made to get all South Sound students back in their classrooms and other school buildings after the Nisqually Earthquake.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been put toward recovery efforts in North Thurston, Olympia and Tumwater schools.

But district officials are thankful that they were able to find help quickly from inspectors and repair crews.

"An engineer came out and reviewed all of our buildings right away, and we found a local contractor that was more than responsive," said Bob Wolpert, director of facilities for Olympia schools.

Total damage to the 9,000-student district is estimated at $250,000.

Students at Lincoln Elementary on 21st Avenue Southeast were moved out of their classrooms into other parts of the school building and into two nearby churches. Damage to the east end of the school shut that entrance, which was needed as a fire escape route. The students will remain in their makeshift quarters through most of this week while work crews finish repairs to cracked and damaged bricks.

A parking lot in front of the district's Knox Administrative Center on Legion Way should be reopened today, while crews continue to make repairs to the building's east wall. That work is still blocking the entrance to the district's facilities office and a meeting room.

Much of the center -- including the first floor, which houses Avanti Alternative High School -- was initially closed off. Work crews have completed repairs, and students and staff members have moved back into their regular space.

The Olympia High School Performing Arts Center should reopen Monday. The new stage was damaged in the Feb. 28 quake.

North Thurston

Despite its proximity to the quake's epicenter, the North Thurston School District -- the county's largest -- did not see much damage, officials there said.

Several initial reports erroneously pointed to serious effects at various schools. The worst actual damage was near the ball field at Timberline High School, where a landslide pushed the field into a nearby wetlands area. District officials said engineers are looking into a possible reconfiguration there.

A number of school ceilings throughout the district also have needed to be repaired, including in the North Thurston High School gymnasium, where the ceiling partially buckled.

"In general, the damage was pretty minimal when you consider the size of our district and the number of schools we have," said Mike Laverty, director of the district's construction design department.

He said current estimates put the cost of damage between $200,000 and $400,000 in the 12,775-student district.

Tumwater

In Tumwater, a sprinkler system that turned on inside the Tumwater Performing Arts Center during the quake damaged an acoustic cloud above it. It was removed and should be replaced this summer, said Ron Shipley, the district's manager of construction and capital projects.

Cracks and superficial damage occurred at other Tumwater schools, but nothing of serious magnitude, Shipley said. He estimated damage to all schools at $200,000.

Some of the damage won't be repaired until school lets out for the summer, so that classes will not be interrupted, Shipley said.

"It was mostly cosmetic, and we're very thankful for it," he said.

On the Web

Earthquake links

Earthquake stories archive

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main Earthquake Stories index