(The Center Square) – After electrical issues forced district officials to close Groff Elementary School until next year, Moses Lake announced Friday that it will not reopen the school amid litigation against the builder.
The Moses Lake School Board voted Thursday to pursue legal action against Fowler General Construction, Inc., and its bonding company over the defects. According to a news release, the decision follows months of investigation and collaboration with construction forensic experts.
Ryan Shannon, public relations director for the Moses Lake School District, told The Center Square that he couldn’t get into the specifics of the damage due to the lawsuit; however, the release mentions “ongoing infrastructure concerns tied to the building’s original construction.”
“After evaluating expert findings and considering the ongoing disruption to our students and staff, we have determined that keeping Groff closed for the coming year is the most responsible and student-centered path forward,” Superintendent Carol Lewis wrote to the community.
Lewis said the decision would allow them to focus on the lawsuit and fixing the school rather than reopening Groff amid other defects. Construction on the elementary school began in 2020, and when it opened in 2021, a litany of issues followed soon after.
Electrical issues forced the district to close Groff Elementary for the first time in April 2024 and then again last month. According to a March 6 news release, MLSD only planned to close it for a few days, but that quickly turned into the rest of the school year and now until the 2026-2027 academic year.
According to the school board’s resolution authorizing legal action, significant defects include but are not limited to the school’s mechanical and electrical systems, roofing and stairways.
MLSD Project Manager Brian Sewell expanded on the issues during a press conference on Friday, adding “road systems,” civil site work and “some structural issues” to the list. He also mentioned “hard state services,” likely referring to data recovery for computer hard drives.
“This was done to protect the district’s interests and also in accountability to our taxpayers,” Lewis told the media on Friday.
The superintendent confirmed that state and local inspectors didn’t point out any issues with the building in their reports. However, Lewis didn’t rule out lawsuits against them, saying it’s all still under investigation. Regardless, closing Groff for another year wasn’t an easy decision.
Lewis said the school is more than a building, comparing it to a family within the community.
Bringing students back next year would put their safety at risk, something she said the district isn’t willing to gamble. The plan is to keep the students together at another school, but Lewis said nothing is concrete yet as they work with staff to find a temporary solution.
“There are incidents that cause us to have concern that people may be endangered at this time,” Lewis said Friday. “I don’t believe that we have actually had any student [hurt] … but there’s enough of a concern that someone may be injured, either a student or staff.”
