Houston students return to class after Alaska Earthquake

HOUSTON, Alaska (AP) – Students from a middle school in south-central Alaska have returned to class for the first time after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake damaged their school building.

KTUU-TV reports more than 700 Houston students were combined into the high school building and 13 temporary buildings Monday.

Houston principal Ben Howard says every structural wall at the middle school was compromised from the Nov. 30 quake, making the building unsafe.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District supplied 13 portable classrooms for the sixth- and seventh-graders while eighth-graders transitioned early to the high school building.

School administrators say that besides finding space for the middle school students, things like drop-offs and bus schedules were easy to transition because of the proximity of the two schools.

Houston is about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of Anchorage.
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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com