GREAT FALLS — Students and staff at Lincoln Elementary School are back to learning this week after powerful winds Sunday tore part of the roof from the school and scattered debris across the surrounding neighborhood.
According to Lincoln principal Steve Yates, the damage happened quickly as high winds ripped roofing material from the south end of the building.
Brianna Juneau reports - watch the video here:
The storm sent insulation and debris flying across nearby streets and yards and knocked out power for some residents in the area.
In the days that followed, school officials, city crews, and contractors worked quickly to secure the remaining structure and determine how classes could safely resume.
“Our community partners from the health departments and the city and lots of different people came up and inspected,” Yates said. “Then construction crews got up there, made sure the rest of the building was secure and that the roof was secured so that we could continue to occupy at least this half of the building.”
Because of the damage on the south end of the school, some grade levels had to be temporarily relocated.
Kindergarten through third grade will continue attending classes at Lincoln in the unaffected portion of the building. Fourth grade students have been moved to Lewis & Clark Elementary, while fifth and sixth graders are now attending classes at the Paris Gibson Education Center.
Yates said he plans to split his time between the buildings while the temporary arrangements remain in place.
“I’ll be moving over there, popping into classrooms, doing all the things I normally would do, but at different locations,” he said.
Despite the damage, Yates said the speed of the response from crews and community partners helped minimize disruptions for students.
“It’s a minor miracle, in my opinion,” Yates said. “When you think about 72 hours to go from roof laying all over the neighborhood and insulation everywhere to be able to have kids in with just two days off. It’s amazing.”
While students are back in class, the timeline for permanent repairs remains uncertain.
Officials are still assessing the damage and determining what a full roof replacement could look like.
“We’re figuring out what next steps are, but we don’t have things drawn up for what the roof repair is going to look like,” Yates said. “I’m hoping we’ll be back next fall, but we just don’t know at this point. Our main focus was just to get kids back in classrooms.”
The principal also said the outpouring of support from the community has been overwhelming.
“It was just a great outpouring of people from all over the state even just offering to help and do things,” Yates said. “It’s just made me proud to be from Great Falls and be able to live and work here.”
