The fire that forced Kathi Firns-Hubert's students to relocate at Hillcrest School has the teacher wondering if the blaze was set to frighten the school's many foreign students.
Thirty-five elementary students in the Lawrence school district's intensive English language program will meet today in a temporary classroom on the stage of Hillcrest's gymnasium. A Christmas night fire investigators suspect arson destroyed the large trailer at Hillcrest that Firns-Hubert had used to teach English to international students.
Firns-Hubert lost books, files and cultural artifacts accumulated over the past 15 years. But the loss to teachers and students may go deeper, she said, if motive for the blaze turns out to be intimidation of foreign students.
"It's a possibility that worries me," Firns-Hubert said. "That is a very dark corner."
In the past, vandals painted the Nazi swastika on trailers at Hillcrest.
Arson tied to a hate crime would send an unsettling message of intolerance to children, Firns-Hubert said.
"They don't deserve to have to face this," she said.
Investigation by Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical is ongoing, said Rich Barr, fire marshal. Debris has been sent to a lab to determine if accelerants were used. Two leads involving people from other cities are being followed.
Barr said no evidence has been found to suggest a hate crime.
"It's possible, but there's no indication of that for us," he said.
Investigators are still interested in speaking to people who have information that might help solve the case.
"Anybody in that neighborhood that may have witnessed something that seemed out of the ordinary ... they ought to let us know," Barr said.
Tom Bracciano, the school district's director of facilities and operations, said remains of the trailer were to be hauled to a landfill by the time students returned today from holiday break.
The district's insurance carrier will provide an estimated $45,000 to remokve the damaged trailer and purchase a replacement. The district's policy has a $10,000 deductible.
It could take about a month to get a new trailer to Hillcrest, Bracciano said. Until then, students in the English program must contend with the clamor of nearby gym classes.
Firns-Hubert said too many people underestimated the value of having parents and students from abroad involved in Lawrence schools. The educational melting pot enriches the city, she said.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.