Students scorn idea of school during flood

May 1, 2009 • written by Molly English, Assistant Editor  
Filed under Feature

       Choked by the chaos of the flood, the week of March 23-27 left in its wake upset students, confused parents and scattered information. West Fargo Public Schools remained open  Monday, Tuesday and Thursday while closing Wednesday and Friday. Superintendent Dana Diesel-Wallace’s debated decision to keep the school open March 26 sparks conflict even a month later.

       “Most of us were very frustrated that our district was still holding school,” senior Nels Lund said. “The city needed every person they could get. To keep kids in school was not a good decision.” 

        Senior Eric Benson was sandbagging March 26 and feels Diesel-Wallace’s decision to keep school open was foolish.

        “I think the administration is ridiculous,” Benson said. “The President called it a national crisis and our administration has school? Doesn’t click to me.”

         Fargo School Superintendent Rick Buresh wrote a letter, which was posted on the West Fargo school websiet, thanking the West Fargo district for staying open.

        “Despite some criticism for remaining open, doing so served a valuable public purpose in providing needed manpower, both student and adult. Thank you,” Buresh wrote.  

        Diesel-Wallace justifies her decision that continued school Thursday.

        “My decision to remain open was greatly influenced by officials in Fargo,” Diesel-Wallace said. “These officials supported us staying open in that we could continue to send bus loads of students to the specific areas in critical need and keep dozens of cars off the roads in Fargo.”

        Benson understood Diesel-Wallace’s good intentions, but thinks she failed being productive in sending students flood fighting.

        “The first time I went with [the school], it was extremely unorganized,” Benson said. “We went to a place where there were no sandbags, so we stood there for two hours. I didn’t even touch a bag.”

        Benson doubted the school’s flood fighting trips’ effectiveness since the shifts lasted only two hours. In the end, Benson thinks Diesel-Wallace would have been wise to cancel school and post additional flood fighting information on the website for students.

        Senior Abby Salquist attended less than two days of school that week because she spent her time sandbagging in various locations.  

        “I know one big reason we had school was to get kids to help sandbag, but many kids did it on their own,” Salquist said. “It was pointless to have school, because so many kids were gone.”

        More than 600 students were absent due to sandbagging March 26, according to school records.

        “[The school] still could have had buses run from our school for the people who wanted to help,” Salquist added.

        Diesel-Wallace’s second reason for keeping school open was for the sake of parents with young children.

        “The thought was that keeping elementary schools open would allow parents of such to participate in flood fighting efforts who otherwise would have had to stay home with their children,” Diesel-Wallace said.

        One mother of an elementary girl was not entirely happy with Deisel-Wallace’s decision. Nancy Pillen, who has a fifth-grade daughter at Horace Elementary, a son in eighth grade and another daughter in eleventh grade, had mixed emotions on Thursday’s outcome.

        “My thinking was that [the school] was going to take all the kids sandbagging,” Pillen said. “When I found out they weren’t sandbagging, it was frustrating for me because I would have taken them sandbagging.”

        Pillen added that she would have sacrificed sandbagging to watch her daughter if her daughter was younger. She agrees with Diesel-Wallace that keeping the grade schools open was OK, but thinks the decision should have been left up to her.

        “As a parent, that’s my job to take care of my kid when there’s no school,” she said. “It couldn’t have been a productive day. They could have been helping their community.”

        Senior Emma Torrance was one of the students that did attend school March 26.

        “There was absolutely no one there,” Torrance said. “Most of [the teachers] wanted to be out helping.”

        The next day, school was cancelled, though plans to bus students to places of need were official.

         “On Friday, we closed because by Thursday morning (Federal Emergency Management Agency) FEMA and the (American Red Cross) ARC had requested the use of our building for as early as Friday afternoon, although as it played out, they did not start to use facilities until Saturday,” Diesel-Wallace said.

        Torrance believes if Diesel-Wallace didn’t cancel school March 27, the results would have been worse.

        “Less than half of the students would have been there,” Torrance said. “Everyone should have been out helping, not in school.”