2,000 volunteers helped last week to renovate a school not used in four years to act as temporary school for elementary school students in Red Oak, Texas after a Dec. 26 tornado destroyed the school they once used.

"After a tornado damaged the original school on West Ovilla Road, the district was forced to move students to the former Red Oak Junior High School, which had not been used as a school in four years. Nearly 2,000 volunteers pitched in, according to district spokeswoman Adi Bryant,” said NBC DFW.

Volunteers quickly helped renovate the junior high school to accommodate younger students and worked to add new technology to the building to include Wi-Fi, projectors and whiteboards to each classroom.

"In all, 24 classrooms will be ready to go for the more than 500 students, Bryant said,” according to the article.

Creating a sense of normalcy was the district’s goal “in a not very normal situation,” and so to facilitate the transition the district paired “each teacher with a teacher from the same grade from another district school in an effort to provide even more helpful resources."

The Dec. 26 tornado destroyed much of the Shields Elementary School resources and so it is relying on help from schools across the country to replenish. For instance, a library in Arkansas about to close is helping supply a “major donation of books.”

Thanks to the support of the local and national community, Shields Elementary School students will be able to carry on as normal as possible for this semester. By August, the district anticipates being able to restore the original building for use next school year. 

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

1/05/2016