Fundraiser aims to get Forest Acres school back on its feet after October flood

Students at the non-profit Harmony School in Forest Acres like to be creative.

They run barefoot through the playground, take frequent field trips and learn to play West African drums.

Christina Scheer, who lives just around the corner from the school, said she and her husband were terrified the school wouldn’t reopen after it was hit hard by the October floods. Their 3-year-old, Dorian Scheer, has been going to Harmony for almost a year now.

“They’re so kind,” Scheer said. “We thought it was a really great environment for our son to be in.”

Sunday afternoon, school board members, teachers, parents and friends threw a fundraiser aimed at raising fundsto repair flood damage.

Harmony wasn’t up to building code before the flood, but it was grandfathered in, school director Deborah Holmes said. Now, school staff have to bring it up to code before their flood insurance will kick in – and it’s going to take about $50,000 to do that.

Classes are still under way, but it has taken some creative use of space. Two portable units on the school property – which used to provide office space – have been repurposed to hold all the students.

“We squished the office and we’re using both portables to provide space for our preschoolers,” Holmes said. “We had to send some of our kindergarteners up with the elementary (students) right now.”

Holmes said the goal is to have things back to normal by the start of the fall term.

In addition to the fundraiser, school staff also are appealing to the community with a GoFundMe page. As of Sunday afternoon, the page had $3,200 in donations.

Harmony School was founded in 1988 and moved to its current location in 1993, according to the school’s website. It became a non-profit in 1994.

This story was originally published March 20, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Fundraiser aims to get Forest Acres school back on its feet after October flood."