Lennox School District cancels classes for Monday

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - The Lennox School District has canceled school for Monday, August 30.

The move comes after powerful storms made their way through the community Saturday, causing widespread damage, including to the local high school.

Lennox School District Superintendent Chad Conaway sent out a virtual letter to Lennox School District families Sunday afternoon informing them about the closure of schools. That letter cites the town’s “prolonged loss of power” as one of the district’s greatest barriers.

Conaway told families he “fully anticipates” classes to resume on Tuesday, August 31.

Here is that full letter:

Greetings Lennox School District Families, First, thank you to everyone who has assisted with cleanup. It’s great to be a part of a school community that is quick to pitch in and help where needed. We’ve had the opportunity to assess damages a little further today and have found that for the most part, all our facilities faired pretty well in the storm with the exception being the high school. As I indicated yesterday, damage to the junior high and high school facility was isolated to the southwest section of the building. This impacted the music room and shop classes the most. We have a lot of roof repairs to do and after we get everything dried in, we will have to assess and repair damages to the interior finishes. Another complication of the storm has been the loss of power throughout our communities. Our food service director was quick to find a refrigerated trailer to temporary house all the frozen and refrigerated goods until power is restored. The prolonged loss of power has been one of our greatest barriers.

Before we resume all operations, we need to ensure the following components are functional throughout the district: HVAC, food service equipment, walk-in coolers and freezers, lights, emergency alarms, and technology. We anticipate power to be restored late this afternoon into this evening. All this said, with power still not restored as of 4:30 PM today, we will not have the time to make all of these assessments by tomorrow. Therefore, all schools in the Lennox School District will be closed on Monday, August 30. I fully anticipate classes to resume on Tuesday August 31. I will provide another update tomorrow afternoon.

Respectfully, Dr. Conaway, Superintendent Lennox School District.