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Mauriceville Middle School begins Imelda cleanup process

Administrators hope to have the school open by Thursday for students.

MAURICEVILLE, Texas — For the second time in two years, Mauriceville Middle School is a construction zone. 

Staff members, students and people in the community have been offering a helping hand to get the campus on its way to reopening later this week. School administrators hope to have students start class Thursday but an official update will be provided to parents Tuesday. 

The process to rebuild has a head start and the school will be dried out and rebuilt. 

"It was really awesome. Saturday, there was a couple of armies out here," said Phillip Matthews, maintenance director for Little Cypress-Mauriceville CISD. "They came out in full force."

Matthews' army is a group of volunteers who salvaged dry items and shuttled them to temporary classrooms at the high school. That's where middle school students will attend class until their campus is ready. Inside, the damage is evident. Classrooms took anywhere from two to 12 inches of water. 

The district is relieved it was less than Harvey's water lines of 2-4 feet. The gym, however, was no match for Harvey — or Imelda.

Credit: Mauriceville Middle School Facebook

"The gym floors do stand out," Matthews said. "They demonstrate a great deal of damage. That's the tough part, that particular gym floor is only a year old."

The elementary school has two sections that are dry and will hold classes for younger students. Third graders are going to Little Cypress Elementary while fifth graders head to Little Cypress Intermediate. 

"The whole district wants to thank all of the community and staff that have pitched in," Matthews said. "Not just that, but their willingness to be flexible and help go through this transition."

The goal is to have students return to the middle school in six weeks.

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