De Pere High School closed due to flooding

DE PERE —  It will be at least a week before the Unified School District of De Pere has a complete assessment of flooding damages at De Pere High School from Wednesday’s heavy rainfall.

Interim Superintendent Andy Bradford said school officials are urging anyone who doesn’t need to be there to stay away. 

“We are in the process of assessing the full extent of the damage,” Bradford said Thursday. “Local restoration companies and district staff  have been working since late afternoon yesterday to prevent further damage from the water that came into the building, and to begin cleanup in the areas that flooded. It will likely be more than a week before we have an accurate estimate of the financial impact.”

The National Weather said the Green Bay area  received 1.95 inches of precipitation on July 8 and 3.12 inches so far in July.

Bradford said that activities including some athletics, driver's education, and limited fine arts practices are not disrupted.

“At this time we are not looking for community help, in order to allow the restoration companies and our buildings and grounds staff the time and space to do their work,” Bradford said. “We're asking our community-- families, staff, students-- to avoid the building and site unless absolutely necessary, until further notice.”

Some areas of the building are open, including the office, gym, weightroom, and auditorium, and accessible for scheduled activities, according to Bradford. 

“But the rest of the building is closed until further notice,” he said.. 

Most of the district’s summer school programming ended in late June, so there is no impact to those classes and students, Bradford said.

A foot tour of the high school’s exterior Thursday revealed no readily visible exterior flooding, although the under-reconstruction east parking lot was muddy, and the turf on the Chicago Street side of the school was squishy underfoot.