JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —
Due to water entering the main building during Sunday night’s storm, classes at Bradford Middle school will be canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday said the district on Facebook.
Classes will resume Thursday, Sept. 1.
This only affects Bradford Middle School, the district says. All other schools will be open as usual.
"We are sorry for any inconvenience as we continue working to create the safest learning environment we can for our students," school officials said. "Thank you for your patience and understanding. Have a great night."
Earlier in the day, Bradford Middle School alerted parents to the issue of flooding and noted that if the parent wanted to pick up their student they could do so, and it would be counted as an excused absence.
Bradford County Schools Operations Director Jeff Edison traded in his dress shoes for working boots to start the new week.
He went to work digging out a drain at the district office after several rooms were flooded by weekend downpours.
However, the damage there paled in comparison to what Bradford Middle School saw just across the street.
"The main instructional building we have was wet," said Edison. "It wasn't safe for kids to be moving around, walking around in."
Edison believes the issue was caused by a roof drain overflowing.
He says an all-call to parents went out as soon as the problem was discovered to let them know they can pick their children up.
"I would say at least 80% of them picked their kids up," said Edison. "We can put the other kids in the gymnasium, cafeteria, other buildings we have."
Edison says he intends to watch through surveillance video to identify the issues.
A cleaning team went to work getting the rooms ready, so Edison is optimistic students will be able to come back by the end of the week.
"Florida's the sunshine state," said Edison. "We'd like to see a little bit of it right now."
Edison says Lawtey Elementary School also had a few classrooms flooded, but they were able to work around that without sending students home.