Elementary would not withstand significant earthquake

By ALANA LISTOE, IR Staff Writer - 10/30/06

Hawthorne Elementary parents and students spent part of Sunday afternoon becoming acclimated with their new temporary surroundings at Ray Bjork Elementary.

There is no school today for Hawthorne Elementary to give teachers time to prepare their classrooms at Ray Bjork.

The Helena School District was forced to temporarily close Hawthorne after engineers determined that the building would not withstand a significant seismic event. The findings came through a district-wide structural analysis currently taking place on all the buildings.

Danyel and Joel Farrell have a first grade student at Hawthorne and said they were glad the district is dealing with the problem before it gets too bad.

"The school district has to do what they have to do to keep the kids safe," Danyel said. "It's worth missing one day of school."

School resumes Tuesday and school counselor Erika McMillin says she will be talking with faculty and students about their concerns.

She will be on hand to help the transition onto buses Tuesday morning so children can be transported to Ray Bjork.

This is bad news for third-grader Clayton Voeller who says his biggest concern in having to ride the bus back and forth.

"I hate buses," he said.

Chianne Duffy, fourth-grader, said she was surprised by the announcement of the move, which came Friday afternoon, but she wasn't scared.

Her first-grade brother, John, said he and his sister used to come to Ray Bjork for daycare (the district rents a wing out) so he felt quite comfortable.

They both agreed that the playground was great, a major priority for elementary students.

Hawthorne student Brandon Rehn's suggestion was to call the television show Extreme Makeover and ask them do a school edition for Hawthorne.

Ray Bjork Elementary closed in 1998 and the district has since then been renting it to the University of Montana-Helena College of Technology, however they didn't renew their contract this year. This is good news for the district as it allowed them to have an empty building to use.

The problem at Hawthorne is that in the event of an earthquake measuring a 6 or more on the Richter Scale could potentially "pancake" the building.

The solution is to construct two supporting walls in the area of the school's gymnasium which would better anchor the building. The work is estimated to cost $100,000 and engineers are currently designing the work.

Bruce Messinger, Helena school superintendent, anticipates the location change to last through November as construction proceeds.

McMillin said she believes everyone will be very comfortable at Ray Bjork and plans to check in with teachers throughout the week to listen to concerns.

A community meeting will be held tonight in the ballroom of the Great Northern Best Western Hotel at

7 p.m.