Woodland cleanup is community effort

When Woodland School District officials got back into their building -- just west of Marble Hill, Mo. -- after a flash flood last May, the task of cleaning up must have seemed impossible. Superintendent Bill Biggerstaff returned to an inch of mud on the floors and thousands of dollars worth of damaged books, computers and furniture.

In all, the damage totaled $1 million.

But the people of Marble Hill aren't ones to sit by and let someone else do the work. All summer, they've been at the school, pumping out water, scraping up the smelly mud and scrubbing the walls. A school principal said some of the people at the building had damage at home and still came to help at the school. They wanted to be where they could do the most good for the most people.

Teachers spent days clearing away debris and trying to salvage what they could, which was precious little.

While the community spirit is there, this is a task nobody wants to repeat, especially considering that the same thing happened in 1982. The board of education should continue considering a levee around the school.