LA MESA, Calif. — Monday's rainstorms across San Diego County hit La Mesa-Spring Valley School District schools hard. The district had to let students go home early due to flooding on school campuses.
FOX 5 was able to tour two of the elementary schools, where some baseboards were removed and dryers and large humidifiers began drying out classrooms.
“Under this path, it's all over,” said Janet Jossa, principal of Kempton Literacy Academy.
Heavy rains in a short period of time damaged all 21 La Mesa Spring Valley District schools. Monday's storm sent students home early, and kept them indoors Tuesday.
“We had to act quickly with some kids, so some backpacks and lunch boxes were left behind,” Jossa said.
At Kempton Literacy Academy, the children's area was swallowed up by rainwater floods on Kempton Road. One kindergarten classroom in that area in particular was flooded.
“And in this building, you can see the level where the water has risen on the side of the building,” Jossa explains. “We had to evacuate students from the window of that classroom.”
On Monday, Kempton made adjustments to the schedule, such as moving intermission indoors. The principal eventually made the decision to tell all the children to stay inside to avoid walking across the crowded campus.
The water quickly became devastating.
“We have books that have to be thrown away because they're all wet, and that's the main impact, a lot of teachers put a lot of effort and work and effort into decorating their classrooms, getting materials that look nice and things that work for them.” “Kids,” Jossa said.
At Bancroft Elementary School, “what you see here was everywhere. You can't see the ground below,” said Robert Cochran, La Mesa Spring Valley School District's superintendent of business services, explaining the classroom area.
Cochran said Monday that Bancroft's principal called to say nearly all of the classrooms were flooded.
By Tuesday, layers of mud were still covering the classrooms.
“So all the work that is being done as far as pavers and removing slippery mud and slippery conditions are all important things that we are working on today,” Cochran said.
A day's work that comes with accolades for staff and students.
“There's a lot of trauma, and I applaud them for staying calm and working together to get through this,” Cochran said.
“It takes a team to make things happen in a crisis situation,” Jossa said. “It was an emergency yesterday, but we had to make a lot of decisions quickly.”
Kempton students will return to school on Wednesday, but kindergarteners will return to different classrooms, until the preschool area is sanitized and deemed safe for students and staff.
Bancroft will not open tomorrow, but students will attend another school until Bancroft is ready and cleaned.
