Former middle school gets needed cleanup

KELLOGG — Acts of service are one of the fundamentals of a community and recently a local church bestowed a grand gesture of service to the Kellogg School District.

The former middle school, now known as the Kellogg School District Administrative Annex, had desperately needed some TLC.

Classrooms sat full of broken and aged school furnishings, as well as outdated textbooks and other teaching materials and there was no one with enough time to get them cleared out.

Dr. Nancy Larsen, Kellogg’s superintendent, was thrilled when members of the Worship Center in Smelterville reached out looking to see if any help was needed.

“The cleaning day was an amazing event. Tim Etherton, our facilities manager, enacted a plan to organize the workers and the work went quickly and proficiently,” Larsen said. “What would have taken our crew hundreds of hours to move, and therefore, many dollars of district funds, was done in a short period of time. About 165 individuals worked in unison to get the work done; saving us valuable time and resources. The volunteers brought with them a spirit of joy for doing a good deed to improve our community.”

The goals of the cleanup were simple; clean and organized.

With roughly 50 years of accumulation in the building, and the building at one point housing 700 students, the amount of aged school supplies needed to be organized was vast.

“We set out to keep all the items that we may use in the future and organize them, so they could be found when needed for use,” Larsen said. “The broken items that were beyond repair needed to be removed. Prior to the cleanout, all district personnel were invited to go through and find things they could use in classrooms; so, many items were moved to other buildings.”

The volunteers shuffled everything that was left into organized rooms.

For instance, now there is a room just for tables, one for chairs and one for desks, all books that still have value were sorted and organized in our book room.

Debris was cleaned up and floors were swept leaving the building neat and organized.

However, there are still items in the library, which are still to be gone through.

The building still serves a vital role for the Kellogg School District, as it houses the special education offices, preschool and head start programs, the Silver Valley Volunteers, as well as being the nerve center for the district’s IT Department.

There is also use by the current middle school, which Larsen lined out.

“The gymnasium, and auxiliary gym, are regularly used for Kellogg Middle School P.E. classes, multiple team practices and games,” Larsen said. “The classroom wing section is not being used for students at this time. Future use has not been determined, but maintaining the building is important to meet future needs as they arise.”

Larsen and the rest of the Kellogg School District are incredibly thankful for the help they received.

“The day was the perfect example of what it means to have community spirit and brought such satisfaction to everyone involved,” Larsen said. “Now, when I enter the building, instead of seeing a mess, I will see possibilities for the future. We are so grateful for the willing spirit of Corey Berti’s congregation and the others who volunteered.”