A community celebration was held today to mark the completion of a major restoration for Rocky Mountain Elementary school after fire caused extensive damage.

In June, a power outage and electrical surge caused fires within the school’s heating and cooling system. The resulting smoke damage required that wall coverings, flooring, ceilings, furniture and equipment – as well as all other contents – be replaced. With the help of the District of Elkford, alternative classrooms were found for students during the restoration.

The Ministry of Education provided $4 million for the restoration of the school and the community came together to help replace the 14,000 library books lost in the fire. Parents started a social media campaign in an effort to win the Indigo Adopt a School contest. Over $15,000 worth of books were purchased from Indigo which resulted in the school winning an additional $10,000 toward rebuilding the library.

For a video of their campaign.

“This unfortunate accident and the remarkable response by the community reminds us that it truly takes a village to raise and educate a child. Our thanks and congratulations to all those who worked so hard to bring Rocky Mountain Elementary back to life so quickly,” said Peter Fassbender, Minister of Education.

“It was inspiring to see students, parents and residents of Elkford come together and support the restoration of Rocky Mountain Elementary. I would like to thank everyone who supported the campaign to refurbish the library, and the District of Elkford for helping find alternative classroom space as the school was being rebuilt,” added Bill Bennett, Kootenay East MLA.

“Our board’s success has been determined by how we react to circumstances like this and the leadership of our management team and the principal along with the community of Elkford has turned a difficult circumstance into a positive one for students in a remarkably short time,” remarked Frank Lento, School District No. 5 board of education chair.

District of Elkford Mayor Dean McKerracher told the Regional District of East Kootenay board of directors this morning in Cranbrook he informed the board of the school re-opening and noted that it wasn’t just the school that was damaged in the fire, as 300 nearby homes also suffered electrical surge damage. BC Hydro has provided each household impacted with $1,000 to re-purchase damaged appliances.

Rocky Mountain Elementary is a kindergarten-to-Grade 6 school with a student population of 236 students.

Since 2001, the province has invested more than $28.3 million for capital projects in the Southeast Kootenay school district, including the replacement of Parkland Middle and Sparwood Secondary schools.

Rocky Mountain Elementary School

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