Students returned to St. Mary School last week.

Employees were busy moving back into the building on the evening of Aug. 29 to prepare for the start a new school year the next day. Staff and nearly 150 students spent months operating in rooms provided to the school by Harbor City Church after a flood on Jan. 21 caused more than $500,000 damage to the school building first put in use 90 years ago, said Principal Nicole Franson.

“There was water cascading from the third-floor ceiling like a torrential downpour,” she remembered.

The water moved downward through the main floor, then to the basement. Debris clogged the gutters, which redirected rain water into the building through a vent leading to the ceiling of a fifth and sixth grade classroom on the third floor. That area was destroyed.

“We speculate it occurred over a matter of days to weeks, between scheduled roof maintenance work,” Franson said. “We were lucky the flooding didn’t damage our auditorium.”

It did, however, significantly affect offices, classrooms, restrooms and other areas of the building.

“Walls on the second floor (the main floor) were ripped out down to the frame,” Franson said. “It’s unbelievable, but the school’s statues of Jesus and Mary were untouched though there was water all over the floor below them.”

Tests determined no mold or other harmful substances remained in the building and that it was safe.

Providing a comfortable, consistent presence to students is important to staff — especially when so many of the youths come from economically disadvantaged families. Many of the students’ tuition costs at St. Mary are subsidized based on household income.

“Eighty percent receive financial aid and 70 percent qualify for free or reduced lunches,” Franson explained.

Franson was pleased with how well the students reacted to the flooding and the need to relocate.

“They adapted very quickly,” she said. “They were together and fed off of each other’s positive energy.”

Classes resumed in early February in the rooms offered by Harbor City Church.

Eighth-graders who finished their studies at St. Mary were given a tour before graduation as the work was occurring.

“Some of them had been here since preschool,” Franson said. “We gave them a sneak peek, an opportunity to reminisce because it was the only school they ever attended.”

Insurance and donations helped finance the school’s clean up effort and even allowed for some much-needed modifications, Franson said.

Her office was moved to a different part of the main floor, and a teacher’s lounge was created there. Staff referred to the old lounge in the basement as “the dungeon,” Franson said.

A specialists room now exists on campus to assist students needing help with English as a Second Language, tutoring, and other support services.

A restroom was made ADA compliant. Other similar modifications are coming to campus gradually so people with disabilities can easily access St. Mary in the near future.

Franson said everyone at the school received a good life-lesson as a result of this bad experience. No one was hurt. The crisis even allowed them to build a relationship with Harbor City Church, a priest reminded them during a service when he talked about the flood and the havoc it caused.

“But the most important lesson is when bad things happen, there are people to support you,” she said.

The school will host an event on Friday, Sept. 16, to let the public see the work done on campus after the flood. There will be a barbecue dinner, bingo and no-host wine and beer bar.

Tours are free and begin at 5:30 p.m. Tickets for the dinner and bingo are $25 each. Visit the school office or email info@saintmaryschool.org to RSVP.