NEW HARTFORD - Strangers would never know the school was flooded and caked with Beaver Creek silt a couple months ago.

Among those to thank are people - from across Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and other states - for putting back together the Dike-New Hartford Junior High and New Hartford Elementary schools' complex. School year started Monday.

Nearly 200 volunteers returned lockers, furniture and shelves, stored at Remington Hybrid Seed's warehouse east of Dike since June. Outside, the playground has been sanitized and pea gravel bleached.

Some folks later sent money.

Still in progress are sanding, painting and sealing the gymnasium floor; and installing cabinets, possibly by October.

The Central College football team recently showed up unannounced and helped remove warped gym boards, probably the worst of cleanup jobs, said Principal Jerry Martinek.

"That floor was old," Martinek said. "It was set on metal strips, all nailed, I mean nailed, into the floor. We were about dead, and these guys come in and they throw the stuff over their shoulders and they carry it out. We were very glad to see them."

In other parts of the building, fresh paint - an estimated more than 200 gallons - and carpet have really brightened up the place, noted seventh-grader Megan Andersen of Dike.

"(The walls) aren't dark blue anymore, they're white," she said. "They glow almost."

The rest looks pretty much the same, which is amazing, Andersen added. It's been a month since she tore out baseboards along the walls. Her brother, Kyle, a high school junior, ripped up mud-soaked carpet.

Carpet squares replaced single pieces, allowing for easier removal of stained or worn tiles.

Bulletin boards are hung, desks have been arranged and caterpillars crawl in aquariums, ready for a unit on life cycles.

With larger projects complete, it's time to focus on hooking up telephones and the computer lab, Martinek said. The intercom system was fixed Friday.

"I just got my boxes unpacked last night, and it's all piled up," said Martinek, while greeting kids hopping off a bus. "The teachers are probably doing a better job, but they've got kids running in and out."

But Kristi Watson, a third-grade teacher, is still operating out of boxes - ones her sister duct-taped to form cardboard bookshelves. Pearson, a publishing company in Cedar Rapids, also donated surplus shelves and filing cabinets.

"Man, anything helps," Martinek said.

Most library shelves were salvaged, and damaged baseboards have been rebuilt.

Library associate Shelly Heise knelt among nearly 25 boxes of elementary nonfiction books.

"We've kind of, sort of got the boxes labeled, but there's some (books) that are thrown in there that don't belong," Heise said. "Nonfiction is the worst because you have to go by the number first and then alphabetize by the letters.

"It'll be a while, I think, and we have library classes starting in two days."

Another puzzle was piecing together lockers, said fourth-grade teacher Burnette Dove.

"Volunteers took them all out, and they numbered them, but then different people put them back in," Dove said. "But they did it, found every nut and bolt."

Dove is encouraged recent disasters won't fuel an enrollment drop. She has at least one new fourth-grader, although another of her students moved to Milwaukee.

"We have one student who is living in Cedar Falls and her mom is bringing her here every day," she said. "They're going to bus them as far as they can to our Cedar Falls line, and then Mom will pick them up there."

Of course, rebounding into the normal routine will take time.

"But it's nice and clean," Dove said. "We have a school, and we have kids."

Contact Tina Hinz at (319) 291-1484 or tina.hinz@wcfcourier.com.