On behalf of the Edmonds School District, I would like to thank the community for not using our school sites as fireworks “launch zones” this past Fourth of July. I am relieved to report that damage to our facilities and the debris clean up time decreased again this year.
This year, our custodial staff spent 48 labor hours cleaning up fireworks debris on school sites. This is a sizeable decrease from 2002, when over 70 custodial labor hours were spent cleaning up fireworks debris and damage.
The district suffered only minor damage at our schools in early July, with small fires started in the wood chips at Brier and Oak Heights elementary schools and grass fires at a couple of our school sites. At Beverly Elementary School, a compost bin was set on fire, causing some damage to the school building. At Hazelwood Elementary School, fireworks tossed into a classroom window caused some scarring on the carpeting.
The hot, dry weather leading up to the Fourth of July celebrations could have resulted in significant damage to our schools. My thanks go out to the community, our custodial staff and our fire departments for minimizing the impact to our schools. We thank the media for helping to encourage citizens to use more appropriate locations than our school sites for celebrating Independence Day.
Superintendent, Edmonds School District
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