RAMSAY — Snow days are a pretty rare occurrence for students in southwest Montana, but some of the kids at Ramsay School got to experience three days off after a water pipe burst, causing damage to several areas of the school.
But a snow day might not be all it's talked up to be for at least one Ramsay student who says she misses her friends and teacher and she really misses school work.
She and her class have been learning to read and she really wants to get back to it.
First grader Ellie Ueland is one of about 170 kids in grades kindergarten through eighth who got a call on Monday that school was canceled.
"We came into school on Monday morning at about 7 with plans to start school and walked down into the cafeteria and walked in water," says Chris Kellogg, principal at Ramsay School, located about 10 miles outside of Butte.
Principal Kellogg says about six inches of water covered the floor in the kitchen cafeteria, gymnasium and some bathrooms after a two-inch pipe burst on Sunday evening, spilling water for about 12 hours before it was detected.
"We found out that there was a broken water pipe above the kitchen ceiling and the ceiling had caved in and spilled water everywhere," says Kellogg.
Kellogg says he has to close the kitchen and gym down indefinitely, but the school will still serve lunch in the cafeteria while construction takes place in the damaged areas.
It’s still too early to determine the cost of damage, but now that the school is dried out students get to return on Thursday.
"I think everybody’s ready to get back tomorrow though, I know I am," says Kellogg.
He says that despite the constant whir of fans in the kitchen and gym, the school is simply too quiet without the students.
And Ellie agrees with her principal.
When asked what she misses about school?
"Math," says Ellie as she sprints up the hill for one last sled ride with her mom, Brett Ueland.
