Most schools closed Thursday; some CV schools open

Many schools will stay closed for the second day in a row on Thursday, thanks to the widespread power outages.

Spokane Public Schools decided to close because 34 of the district’s 54 schools were without electricity Wednesday afternoon, said school district spokesman Kevin Morrison.

The district also looked at the difficulties students would have getting to school if the district chose to open only the 20 schools with power. There are still numerous trees down and traffic lights out.

“We want to make sure we have a safe path to school,” Morrison said.

A tree fell on Balboa Elementary during the storm, damaging the roof.

“We’ve cleaned it up really well, but the tree did land in the principal’s office,” Morrison said.

Two large evergreens fell near Libby Center but didn’t hit the school. Other schools have blocked entrances.

The Central Valley School District will reopen all but six of its schools, said spokesperson Marla Nunberg.

The six schools that will stay closed are the Early Learning Center, Bowdish Middle School, Greenacres Elementary, Greenacres Middle School, Opportunity Elementary and Ponderosa Elementary. The closures affect 3,240 students.

All other schools will start at their normal Thursday time, she said.

The Mead, West Valley, East Valley, Deer Park, Riverside, Medical Lake and Cheney school districts canceled all classes Thursday, as did Gonzaga Prep and Saint George’s School.

In Idaho, the Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene school districts had not announced by 9 p.m. Wednesday whether they would open Thursday. The Lakeland School District will be closed.

Local Universities

Most Whitworth University classes resumed Wednesday night and all classes were expected to be back in session Thursday, said spokesperson Nancy Hines.

Between 50 and 100 trees fell on campus, though no one was injured, she said. Four buildings were severely damaged and three buildings will be running off generators Thursday.

Hines said the university evacuated campus Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the storm. During windstorms in the summer of 2014 Whitworth lost about 100 trees in two storms.

“We knew how fast those trees can come down,” she said. “There really is no warning, no outrunning those.”

Hines said all students living off-campus were given meals in the student union building.

Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University announced that all classes would be held Thursday.

Staff reporter Eli Francovich contributed to this report.