SPOKANE, Wash – School starts two weeks from Wednesday in Spokane. Thousands of kids will head back to school, just having gone through the trauma of the Spokane wildfires.
Families in the Indian Trail neighborhood are among the hardest hit. Hundreds of homes burned when the Old Trails Fire jumped the Spokane River and roared into their neighborhood on August 1st.
“We’re looking at about 50 kids who have lost their homes,” said Indian Trail Elementary School Principal Breanna Cull. “We know of another eight families who are not able to return to their homes yet. And we suspect it might be more than that. So, probably about 20 percent of our families are impacted by this.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Cull and her staff aren’t allowed back into the school, as crews test for possible contaminants from the wildfire smoke and ash.
The return to school can’t come soon enough for third grade teacher Craig Hall.
“I need school more than anything else right now,” he said. “The thing that gives me the most joy in life is the look on kids’ faces and the love they have for school.”
Hall is what could consider a lifer in the Indian Trail neighborhood. He went to school here and grew up nearby.
Like so many of their students, Hall also lost his home and every home in which he’s lived in this neighborhood.
“It’s hard to describe and something I don’t want anybody to ever have to experience,” Halll said. “But those of us that are going through it, the emotions are overwhelming. It’s a legitimate roller coaster.”
Indian Trail Elementary families are rallying to help each other. Melissa Skindlov is a frequent guest teacher and a mom of three. Their home survived, but many of her kids’ friends’ homes did not.
“They get kind of nervous for school anyways, but this has added a whole other level there,” Skindlove said. “I imagine that there’s going to be lots of tears this year. Just lots of emotional and mental support needed because they’re they’re nervous.”
The school has always been a uniting force in this neighborhood. That support will be needed now more than ever, in a neighborhood that’s forever changed.
“We have generations of families that have come through the school,” Cull said. “Someone’s parents went there, you know, 30 years ago, and their dream is for their kids to go to that school too.”
Cull has high hopes school will start on time. Much depends on the testing and any remediation that needs to take place.
In the meantime, she and her staff have been in touch with families. Counselors are preparing and teachers are getting special training to deal with the trauma.
The school district has pledged its support going forward.
“We feel this support right now,” Cull said. “Hopefully that continues as we process everything that our community has gone through for sure.”
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