Griffith Elementary Closed for Remainder of School Year

Griffith Elementary School in Ferguson will be closed for the rest of the school year due to the damage.

Winds tore the roof off the school’s gymnasium and caused structural and roof damage in other parts of the building, said Art McCoy, assistant superintendent for secondary education for the Ferguson-Florissant School District.

The building is at 200 Day Drive along Chambers Road.

District officials also announced that power has been restored to Central and Airport elementary schools in Berkeley. Power had been out in the area since Friday's storms, but school will resume Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, insurance agents are assessing water damage sustained during the storm, McCoy said, who will be appointed the district’s superintendent upon current Superintendent Jeff Spiegel’s retirement at the end of the school year.

Griffith third through fifth-grade students will attend school at Ferguson Middle School, while kindergarten through second grade students will have classes at January-Wabash Elementary School, which is located behind Ferguson Middle at 701 January Ave.

All students will have the same classroom teachers as they did at Griffith Elementary.

“Each teacher has a classroom to themselves,” said Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education Gwendolyn Diggs. “It worked out beautifully,”

Diggs said they are trying to handle the changes with as little disruption to schedules as possible. Griffith students continued classes as normal on Monday.

Bus riders will be picked up at their normal stops and taken to Ferguson Middle School at 701 January Ave. Students who normally walk or are dropped off at Griffith will be bused from the Griffith Elementary School site to Ferguson Middle School.

“We will have three schools here with Ferguson Middle, January-Wabash and Griffith,” Diggs said. “If the car riders would meet their students at Griffith, that would help us out a great deal.”

A letter will be sent home with students Monday detailing the changes.

 “The goal here is that the students come first,” Griffith Principal Robin Witherspoon told parents during a meeting Monday at Ferguson Middle School. “They will be supervised until you get here.”

About 30 parents, grandparents and others attended the meeting.

“Let me tell you, the boys and girls are just as happy as they can be,” Witherspoon said. “Many of them walked in from the bus stop saying, ‘I feel scared,’ or ‘I feel sad.’ That’s good. They’re feeling something, and they’re talking about it. We encouraged them during our morning meeting to talk it out.”

Parents at the 9:15 a.m. meeting praised district officials for hitting the ground running.

“Considering the circumstances and the short notice, they came together, and they worked things out very quickly,” said Kimberly Gregory, who has a fifth-grader at Griffith Elementary.

“I’m totally impressed with it. I’m very comfortable knowing my son is being taken care of here,” Gregory said of the district.

McCoy said officials expect the Griffith Elementary School building to be ready for next school year.

“We’re optimistic because the insurance company said it can be occupied right now with the exception of the gym,” he said.

“It’s been a long weekend,” McCoy said. He praised staff efforts in assessing damage, making plans and transferring classroom materials from Griffith to the other buildings.

“The director of security went through and made assessments. We had a plan in place by noon Saturday and cleanup was underway,” he said.

Just west of Griffith Elementary on Chambers Road, Ferguson Christian Church had its roof torn completely off by high winds during the storms.

Central and Airport elementary schools were closed Monday because they had no electricity.

For more information on Griffith Elementary, contact Ferguson Middle School at 314 506-9600.