Scars from the Tornado Read Online Free Page B

something teachers in the Joplin
School District will never forget.
    During that
time, we heard a powerful rendition of the National Anthem by one of my former
students, high school junior Hannah Cady, an uplifting speech by the governor,
and the remarkable chronicling by our Superintendent, C. J. Huff, of how the
school, the community, the nation, and the world, had combined to produce the
miracle of a school district that had 10 buildings either destroyed or heavily
damaged, starting on time.
    We left the
auditorium ready for whatever challenges may come our way as we began the
2011-2012 school year. Eleventh and twelfth graders would be holding their
classes in a refurbished building at Northpark Mall,
the ninth and 10th graders, would be at the former Memorial Middle School
building, which long again had been one of Joplin’s two high schools before
they were combined. At East Middle School, we were ready to begin classes in
our refurbished warehouse.
    But it's
school. The teachers were ready, and maybe for the first time after a summer in
which everything has revolved around the destruction of the Joplin Tornado, the
students were ready, too.
    Three short
months ago, we were looking at once proud structures that had been reduced to
rubble by the fury of nature.
    It was only a
week after the tornado, in what had been termed as a family gathering,
Superintendent C. J. Huff made the inspiring announcement that school would
start on time.
    The following
day would be filled with meetings to prepare us for our return to Joplin
Schools, as we had never known them before.
    Our meeting at
Missouri Southern was the first step in the school district’s road to recovery.
    FIRSTDAY
OFSCHOOL
    It was the
first day of school and a sixth grader did not know where the office was in our
new building.
    He asked
eighth grade science teacher Mike Wallace for directions. Wallace, glancing
down at the end of the hall, told the youngster, “Go down the hall and turn
right at the governor.”
    Whether the
child knew who Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon was, I had no idea, but the presence of
the governor in our hallways and the national media at every new or refurbished
building in the Joplin School District made our first day of school a memorable
one.
    Though it was
a new era for the Joplin schools, my routine stayed the same. I arrived at the
building shortly after 6:30 a.m. That would give me approximately two hours to
collect my thoughts, make final revisions on the introductions to my classes
and the tedious explanations of class rules that every teacher goes through on
the first day or two of classes.
    The media and
dignitaries began arriving shortly after 8.
    Normally, so
much media might be considered intrusive, but not on this day, just three
months after the tornado destroyed or heavily damaged 10 of our 19 schools.
    On this day,
the national and world media were welcome because it was so important to thank
the world that made this day possible.
    In the days
after the tornado, the idea that school would start on time seemed an impossibility . Joplin High School, a center of the
community, had been blown apart by nature’s fierce fury, leaving the words “Op
High School” for all to see. That did not last long. Within a couple of days,
someone had added two letters to that sign, an H and an E, turning it into Hope
High School, and setting the stage for the complete resurrection of the Joplin
School District.
    The effort
began with school administrators and board members who had to create solutions
because there was no blueprint for how to deal with this kind of devastation.
Teachers and staff were brought into the equation and the Joplin community,
parents, students, business owners, and people who had no connection to
elementary and secondary education except for paying the taxes that support it.
The restoration of Joplin schools and the idea that they could open on time,
only 87 days after the tornado, became the goal of an entire