KCK youth sports complex serves as temporary learning space after middle school fire

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) – A fire at Arrowhead Middle School forced the district to temporarily close its doors, but the learning still continues. Students will resume learning on Tuesday at the Homefield KCK youth sports complex just over a mile down the road.

Kansas City, Kansas, fire officials responded to a fire at 9 p.m. on Friday night. School officials say there was an electrical fire in the ceiling that left behind some damage and a thin layer of soot throughout the school.

“It wasn’t too long, I mean it wasn’t a major blaze so we are lucky for that,” said KCKPS  Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Edwin Birch.

Officials say the fire took place after hours so no one was inside the building at the time and crews are still on scene cleaning the damage as of Monday afternoon. Although the building is closed, the students’ learning experience will not be disrupted.

“I mean that could be an easy thing, just closing school, but that’s not our objective. We want to make sure that our students are still able to learn and in a clean learning environment to continue that process and for our teachers to teach,” said Birch.

READ MORE: Classes canceled at Kansas City, Kansas school after fire damages building

Homefield KCK typically serves as a sports academy and houses youth basketball and volleyball tournaments. Staff said they’re opening the floor by setting up chairs and tables to create 36 class spaces for more than 400 students.

“To be able to be a partner to the KCK public schools really is a dream come true. To be able to flex and utilize our facility to help out when needed is really why this building was designed,” said director of operations Kelsey Ahern.

KCKPS says the change in scenery should be temporary until it’s safe to return back to Arrowhead Middle School, but they hope students enjoy the learning experience.

“Hey, they can come and learn here and seamlessly be a school for them but hey we have this clinic, we have this opportunity for them to use it in a different perspective as well.”

Transportation to Homefield will be provided to students who usually walk to Arrowhead Middle School.

Arrowhead Middle School students will learn out of the Homefield KCK facility on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. School will be out of session on Friday. Next week, the district will re-evaluate progress on cleaning and decide if they’ll be ready to reopen.

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