CHARLO - The water is back on and in-person learning has resumed at Charlo Schools after a tumultuous day of digging for a broken pipe.
Before Christmas, Charlo Schools staff noticed a major drop in water pressure, and then on Monday morning, the water stopped flowing to the middle and high schools. Promptly after that classes were canceled for the remainder of the day.
The water stayed working in the elementary schools until 2 p.m. and after that, teachers had to take students to a nearby convenience store to use the restroom.
“We started digging around here and found out that we had a water line broke not too far from the main turn on from the city water and we spent the whole day yesterday digging and repairing that,” explained Superintendent Steve Love. “And about five o’clock [Tuesday] we got it repaired. And then guys worked into the night making sure we could get the water back up to run the boiler, make sure we had toilets and sinks and all that.”
Love added, “this just illustrates what most schools in our state are dealing with. We have deteriorating infrastructure and we don’t have the funds to fix things.”
Love told MTN News the situation could’ve been worse but thankfully the Charlo community is all about helping each other in times of need.
“I can’t say enough about our custodial crew and maintenance crew and all the community members that helped us out. So, I’m very, very grateful for that.”
Students had been doing work from home via Google Classroom as maintenance staff spent Wednesday making sure everything was ready to welcome the students back.
The water issue was resolved, and the students returned to the classroom on Thursday morning.
