St. Cloud Community Rallies Around Westwood Elementary Families After Arson Fire

Originally published April 7th, 2026 9:07 a.m.

Updated April 7th, 2026 11:16 a.m.

(KNSI) — Officials with St. Cloud Area School District 742 say the local community is rallying around families after a fire forced the closure of Westwood Elementary.

According to Superintendent Dr. Laurie Putnam, the YMCA, Great River Children’s Museum, Boys and Girls Club, Westwood Community Church, the Initiative Foundation, St. Cloud Rotary and others have stepped up with childcare, meals and activities while the building remains closed.

Putnam tells KNSI, “I think, often we hear the bad news, the things that aren’t going right. Well, out of this, we have certainly made lemonade, thanks to our community. The Boys and Girls Club opened a special kid stop at their Roosevelt site. They’re offering child care 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. every day, and parents can just drop students off, and we’ve got staff there to support our students in their remote learning.”

Open gym and open swim at the St. Cloud Area Family YMCA are also offered free of charge, with staffing provided by Westwood in case families need somewhere to go. The Great River Children’s Museum is hosting free field trip experiences for K-through-5 students Wednesday through Friday, with transportation and meals included. “Our staff are on buses Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, picking kids up, taking them to the Children’s Museum, spending the morning with them, doing learning in community,” according to Putnam, who adds, the Initiative Foundation is also pitching in, “providing meals, lunch for our students. And then, thanks to past generosity, we’ve got some meal boxes for families. We know that a lot of our kids get their food from us. And so families can pick up meals as well out of Westwood Church.”

Food and clothing support is available at the District Administrative Offices in Waite Park, and food box distribution runs at Westwood Community Church from 11:00 a.m. to noon, Wednesday through Friday.

The fire was reported on March 31st just before 9:00 a.m., and investigators say it was intentionally set. Putnam explains it was a small fire, “thanks to the quick action of a couple of our staff. They grabbed a fire extinguisher from the kitchen and were able to put it out. But our air handlers, doing what air handlers do, grabbed that smoke and particulate and spread it all over the school. So, what was quite little fire damage was actually fairly catastrophic smoke damage.”

The evacuation went according to plan, and many students were unaware of what was going on. She and Fire Chief Matt Love were at the reunification site at Westwood Church, where they spoke with kids and explained why they were there. Putnam says many kids thought it was the best school day ever, “because they got to go for a walk with their class, watched a movie at a church, we had pizza brought in, and mom and dad came early. Like, how could they not love it?”

The district had never had to do a parent reunification on such a scale before. She praised the staff and Principal Derek Branton for quickly getting kids to safety, and the first responders for arriving so fast.

There are 550 students who attend Westwood.

That also means there were more than 550 jackets, backpacks, bags, phones, laptops, lesson plans, teaching materials and other belongings left behind and have not been accessible since then, yet students are still learning. “Our staff have made videos where they’ve actually recorded themselves giving lessons,” says Putnam. “We have some packets of hard copies and we are sending home worksheets in case people want to print it, so they can access that.” She adds that there can’t be any new learning right now: “it’s reinforcing learning that has happened and trying to give lessons for art or music or science, things that people could do at home already.”

Authorities say they know who it is, but Putnam was unable to provide more details because the investigation is ongoing.

The building is expected to reopen on April 13th.

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