Update, Pine River Area Schools—Schools will re-open Monday, October 10, 2016

Pine River: Due to a large volume of water in the high school kitchen, Pine River Area Schools was closed on Friday, October 7, 2016, but will re-open on Monday, October 10, 2016. “Although it may not be business as usual for food service,” Superintendent Matt Lukshaitis spoke minutes ago, “We will be open for school with full K-12 programming on Monday, October 10. We needed the day today to figure some things out and get the drying process going in the high school kitchen.”

Lukshaitis went on to explain, “As a result of water damage, we will have to prepare meals in the middle school and our lower elementary kitchens and stage some temporary coolers and freezers on-site, but with creativity we have already begun laying out a menu to ensure our students are fed breakfast and lunch. So, with the extra effort of some key personnel, we will be open Monday and we will be able to serve breakfast and lunch to all.”

The Pine River superintendent added, “It took some time—about three hours last night and six hours today—but after meeting with the roofers, the architect, our own Building and Grounds supervisor, our Food Service Coordinator, and our Board President, Jim Peterson, we were able to trouble shoot enough to set the remediation in motion in the high school kitchen and organize a plan for the food service needs of our student body.”

The water from recent rains built up and seeped into the plaster and lathe, stucco ceilings from the roof above the high school kitchen on Thursday night. At 5:30 p.m., water started ruining the tiles in the north hallway and by 10:00 p.m., the water had found its way to the kitchen ceiling.

Lukshaitis concluded, “The rain came down heavily the past few weeks and so we ran into a little hard luck. We live in Northern Michigan. We learn to shrug these things off. I know we have a great staff here and a terrific student population with parents who understand that when you are investing in a major repair, you might run into some minor set-backs. We will overcome this. School will be back on track Monday; we may need to transfer food from our smaller kitchens to our largest cafeteria instead of the other way around, but we can manage that for 2-4 weeks. Our main focus right now is getting our schedule back on track and our students back into the classrooms.”