Heavily damaged elementary school won’t reopen this spring, Andover district says

The Andover elementary school slammed by a tornado Friday night will not be used for the rest of the school year, the Andover school district said Saturday night.

Prairie Creek Elementary School “suffered significant damage,” the district said in a Facebook post. “Some rooms were untouched, while others were heavily damaged.”

Students who attended Prairie Creek will not have school this coming week while district leaders determine where they will attend for the rest of the school year.

“We are committed to finding a way to continue in-person school at alternate locations, but we will need a few days to figure that out,” the post said. Classes for Prairie Creek are expected to resume Monday, May 9.

Students at all other district schools will go back to class on Tuesday, May 3.

City Administrator Jennifer McCausland, who has two children at Prairie Creek, said the school had “a lot of damage. All of the front offices’ glass is completely gone, the roof has substantial damage. They took on a lot of water because the roof was damaged so badly and then it rained so hard. It’s pretty substantial.”

The school was hit hard when an EF-3 tornado rolled through rural Sedgwick County, a small part of Wichita and then Andover on Friday night. It damaged at least 300 to 400 buildings, according to Andover fire chief Chad Russell.

This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 7:09 PM.