(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds visited Rock Valley today (Thursday) and announced the opening of a temporary school for middle school students. Reynolds stood in front of the new building and spoke of the devastation that greeted her on her first visit to the community after the June flood. ” One of the images that I won’t soon forget was the school we’re at today, Rock Valley K-12 public school building was an island that was completely surrounded by water. Not far away, the Rock Valley Christian School stood with its doors and windows wide open in an effort to help the interior dry out, and the sidewalk surrounding it was piled high with damaged classroom materials and equipment,” Reynolds says.

Rock Valley Community School Superintendent Matt Van Voorst says he looked at the devastation knowing they had only two months before school would start again. ” Every square inch of our district K-12 building was inundated by mud. Contents were destroyed, as well as our grounds, our bus barn,” he says. “To be quite frank, it felt a little bit lonely at first.”
Van Voorst says that lonely feeling didn’t last long as volunteers started arriving along with contractors.

“Saying the word community has taken on a little bit of a new meaning to me. I think I’m going to bold caps and underline that from now on, community, it really is a whole other meaning,” Van Voorst says.

All the public school buildings were hit by flooding and are still under repair. The new modular school will house 150 students in six classrooms, and includes bathrooms, offices, and a common area. Some elementary students will go to class at a local church. Superintendent Matt Van Voorst says the district did meet its goal to have all students learning in person when they come back to class next week. Rock Valley Christian School Principal Marcus De Jager echoes the sense of community.

Governor Reynolds in Rock Valley. (photo from Governor’s video feed)

“Just like Rock Valley community, we are so motivated, so motivated to teach the whole child, because we know how important it is to have some sort of normalcy,” De Jager says. “So it’s our honor and our privilege to host these students starting next week. So let’s celebrate.” De Jager says Rock Valley Christian is ready with finishing touches in the kitchen being made now and buses are on their way from different states. Rock Valley Mayor Kevin Van Otterloo says it’s been 68 days since the flood. He expressed his gratitude to the Governor and her staff, the emergency personnel that worked tirelessly during the disaster, and the sheer number of volunteers that showed up.

“Volunteers have come into Rock Valley to help 104,000 man hours were put in to help us. Without them, we would not be where we’re at today,” Van Otterloo says. He says he received a text early on in the recovery from the governor telling him to never give up. He says the community hasn’t and won’t, and is confident the community will heal. Tours of the new classrooms were held after the event.

The classrooms will be repurposed into a daycare for Rock Valley, once the school recovery is complete. Classes in Rock Valley begin September 5th.