Arkansas school burns to the ground

MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, Ark. –Cynthia Sullivan couldn’t help put feel a sense of loss. Burdette Schools, where she once taught Kindergarten, was reduced to a pile of rubble. Pictures obtained by WREG showed just how intense the fire was early Sunday morning. It was a suspicious blaze that devoured classrooms and memories. “You knew everybody and all the teachers were good friends and we worked well together,” said Sullivan. ” And everybody was from this particular area.” The fire melted siding on one of the school’s original buildings, now the Burdette City Hall and Water Department, but didn’t reach the gym. There were few people in this small Mississippi town that didn’t attend the school. That included Sullivan’s husband and son, Ryan. “The first grade class was back there in that back corner,” Ryan Sullivan pointed out. The younger Sullivan is 21-years-old, but still remembered attending Kindergarten and first grade here before the school was consolidated with Blytheville. “During PE class, instead of regular PE, they taught us “line dancing.” So that’s the most specific memory I have,” he recalled. The Sullivan’s live across the street from the school, and never had to walk far to get to class. “I attended Kindergarten through sixth grade here at Burdette,” said Mike Sullivan. He said the school was more than just a learning place. It was where friends and families gathered for sports and fellowship. He said he always intended to visit his old classroom, but it’s too late now. “Of course you procrastinate, and I procrastinated too long. And now all you can do is look at the remains of what used to be,” he said.