Cyntha Foht, principal of Rogers, said she is getting all smiles from the children, who are adjusting to their new surroundings at Burchfield Primary School.
“It’s wonderful here,” she said. “Everybody has been very welcoming to us.”
The Allegheny County fire marshal is investigating the fire, which was contained to a mechanical room but caused smoke damage throughout the Rogers building on Scott Avenue. The district has yet to receive a report on the cause of the fire.
After a spring break that was one day longer for Rogers students, district administrators held a meeting for the students and their parents at Burchfield to welcome and familiarize them with their temporary school.
On April 8, Rogers students boarded their buses at their usual neighborhood stops but were transported to Burchfield, where they were greeted by their Rogers teachers. All of the Rogers custodial and maintenance staff also were relocated to Burchfield.
The roughly 200 students from Rogers were added to the 400 students at Burchfield. Both schools house kindergarten through third grade. The Rogers students are attending classes in rooms normally used for music and art.
The district took steps to make the Rogers students feel at home.
The Rogers students are grouped together in the same area of the building, many furnishings have been arranged as they were at their old school, they are driven to school by the same bus drivers and the commutes are the same amount of time.
Burchfield principal Jeff Rojik said he has received a lot of positive comments from parents, staff and students from both schools.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the cooperation of our music teachers,” he said. Since the Rogers students are using the music and art rooms, the teachers of those subjects have been turned into traveling minstrels and artists who bring their subject to the classrooms.
Credit also goes to the custodians and maintenance team members who readied the classrooms in a short amount of time, Mr. Rojik said.
“It really was an enormous team effort. I also give a lot of credit to the district’s top administrators to get the students back into the swing of things,” he said.
“Rogers in Burchfield is going to be the situation until further notice,” Bethany Hofstetter, district communications specialist, said. “We’re all really happy with the transition.”
Rita Michel, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com
First Published: April 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
