SCRANTON, Pa. — Students from Northeast Intermediate in Scranton are finally back to class, if only for a few hours. Their normal school building along Adams Avenue remains empty.
The students have been split between two other schools. All of the Northeast sixth graders and half of their seventh grade class have been placed at West Scranton Intermediate. The remaining seventh graders and the eighth graders are at South Scranton Intermediate.
"I have gotten concerns here and there and they're all legitimate concerns, but until it's situated, they do just need to get their kids an education somewhere," said Shanon Bembenek, the parent of a South Scranton student
Bembenek says teachers at South and West have been collecting school supplies for the newcomers, many of whom weren't able to retrieve all of their belongings when their school was shut down suddenly last Wednesday.
"Notebooks, pencils, anything that they couldn't get out of their lockers. They split their cafeteria, they're putting the North kids in the back, the South kids in the front so they are all about it. They're calling it a family. You know, they've got to come together and help them out because it's not their fault they can't go in their school."
Questions for the district still linger as more than 900 students from Northeast enter the other schools.
"I feel every building has a capacity, and they haven't released it, so if it is over capacity, then it isn't a good option."
Students from Northeast were asked to arrive at their normal bus stops 15 minutes earlier than normal. Students who typically walk to Northeast Intermediate were bused to West and South Scranton Intermediate.
Administrators say the EPA visited the school Thursday and continues to help monitor the situation. Right now, there's no timeline when Northeast Intermediate could reopen.