Hundreds of meals were prepared by members of the Parkersburg Area Association of Realtors in order to ensure students involved in the Summer Feed Program had access to food Monday. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG — Wood County Schools canceled summer programs Monday and will keep summer school classes closed Tuesday as the district continues to monitor conditions following the Peoples Cartage Warehouse fire in Parkersburg.

The district initially canceled Monday programs while officials assessed school buildings and transportation equipment after the fire and a state of emergency declaration. Superintendent Christie Willis said Monday that crews were checking buildings near the affected area to make sure they were safe before programs resumed.

Buildings assessed included Martin Elementary School, Edison Middle School, Franklin Elementary Center, the district’s MIS computer and IT department, Edgelawn Elementary School and Erickson All-Sports Facility.

“We’re just checking it out right now,” Willis said. “Everything’s fine. We have not found any concerns. The buildings don’t have any smoke issues. There’s no smells in them.”

According to an update posted on the Wood County Schools website, there will be no summer school instruction Tuesday. The district’s goal is to return students to in-person instruction Wednesday, pending continued monitoring of conditions and safety considerations.

Volunteers with Parkersburg Area Association of Realtors work to put together meals for students involved in the Summer Feed Program so they continued to receive meals as the school system remained closed Monday. (Photo provided)

Summer feeding services will resume Tuesday, with meals available for pickup at Parkersburg High School, Parkersburg South High School, Jefferson Elementary Center and Martin Elementary School. Meal deliveries to other designated sites, including partner locations such as the YMCA, will resume if those sites are open and able to safely receive deliveries, according to the district.

Community partners also stepped in Monday to provide meals for students after disruptions to the Wood County Summer Feeding Program. Brown bag meals were available beginning at 4 p.m. Monday at Cornerstone Gospel Church, 3100 17th Ave. in Vienna, while supplies lasted.

The Parkersburg Area Association of Realtors also added a distribution site at South Parkersburg Pizza Place, 1014 Blizzard Drive, where brown bag meals for students were available from 4-7 p.m. Monday. Parents were required to enter the restaurant to receive meals.

Willis said the district had already been considering closing before the state of emergency declaration because officials did not yet know what conditions would be like at schools overnight.

“When the governor called the state of emergency, that’s the first thing,” Willis said. “We were thinking first, before he did that, we were going to close because we didn’t know what the conditions of our school were going to be, especially overnight.”

Tuesday also will be used to wash and clean buses that had been staged at Edgelawn during the response period, according to the district. The cleaning is intended to make sure buses are safe and ready for service when students return.

The district said further updates will be shared by 3 p.m. Tuesday.