Westside School fire damages library and community room; district outlines temporary class and bus plans

Board President Heather opened the March 10 meeting with a report on a fire at Westside School that "destroyed a portion of this historic building," and thanked firefighters and first responders for protecting the remainder of the school. "Their swift and courageous response helped protect the rest of the school," she said.

The district said the damage was contained to the library, the CLL and the community room and emphasized student safety as the guiding priority. District officials said the superintendent and administrative team were on site early to coordinate response and recovery, and expressed optimism about a relatively quick return: they told the board they were "optimistically looking at weeks, not months" for students to return to Westside, while stressing that no firm promises could be made at the assessment'stage.

Superintendent Joe and operations staff fielded questions from parents about transportation and day'to'day logistics. "The plan right now is your bus stop in the morning will be exactly the same," the administration said, and explained that afternoon drop'offs will be staggered: buses will first stop at the junior/senior high school, then Goose Hill, then Wood Harbor. The district identified the district office front circle as the temporary arrival point for Westside students and said security and staff would direct traffic and help students enter receiving buildings.

Officials warned families to expect some extra travel time as routes settle in and estimated some runs could take roughly 15'20 minutes longer while routing and queuing are refined. They also said the same bus drivers would serve the routes and that parents should use the district's web-based parent tools (Opera) to notify the school of dismissal changes; for last-minute changes, families were told to call the building where their child would be that day.

On student materials and services, administration said Chromebooks and essential classroom items already had been moved to receiving buildings and that teachers had been contacted to coordinate materials. A monitored district email and shared Google document will track recovered items so families and staff can identify and claim belongings. The district said it will work to maintain special-education services and clinicians where possible but acknowledged there may be minor staffing adjustments.

Community members and students responded with immediate relief efforts: Westside students reported raising roughly $1,000 in a lemonade-and-cookie sale to repopulate the school library. "We got 1,000," a student said at the microphone, and board members publicly thanked the volunteers and donors.

The district said it would post updates on ParentSquare and the district website as assessments continue, and urged families to direct operational questions through the district's established contact channels. The board did not take any formal vote regarding the recovery plan at this meeting; updates and next procedural steps were set to appear in subsequent communications and meetings.