As of March 5, 2009 2:00PM MST

Hawthorne School evacuated; kids bused to city library

All students and staff at Hawthorne Elementary School have been evacuated to the Bozeman Public Library to avoid smoke blowing from the natural-gas explosion two blocks from the school.
“At approximately 12:45 p.m., the wind shifted, causing smoke to be blown towards Hawthorne School,” Bozeman Superintendent Kirk Miller said in a prepared statement issued at 1:30 p.m.
Subsequent consultations with the Bozeman Police Department and city officials over “possible air-quality concerns” prompted the school district to bus all students and staff from Hawthorne, at the corner of Rouse Avenue and East Mendenhall Street, to the library, on East Main Street.
Parents and adults identified as emergency contacts can pick up students from the library throughout the afternoon, according to the district statement.
For children who remain with their teachers, dismissal will take place at the regular 3:20 p.m., and buses will run as normal, leaving from the library instead of Hawthorne.
Students and staff will not return to the school today.
The district intends to have school “proceed as normal” on Friday.