NASHVILLE — With just four school days left before summer break for Oklahoma’s Moore Public Schools, district administrators were preparing for high winds, thunderstorms and hail to roll through the area around dismissal time on May 20, 2013.
However, by 2:40 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in Cleveland County, where most of the district’s schools are located, said Superintendent Robert Romines. Then, at 2:56 p.m., the first reports came out of a tornado in progress.
By 3:01 p.m., a tornado emergency was issued for Moore, and at 3:16 p.m., the tornado severely damaged Briarwood Elementary School before destroying Plaza Towers Elementary School minutes later. Shortly after that, the tornado hit the Highland East Junior High gymnasium, the district’s administration building and its information technology building.
“We had about 16 minutes to prepare for an F2 tornado increasing to an F5 tornado once it hits the most western side of our school district,” Romines said.
The lethal tornado took the lives of seven 3rd graders who were sheltering in Plaza Towers Elementary’s gym when it collapsed. At the time, some of the district’s schools — including Briarwood and Plaza Towers — lacked a storm shelter. But Romines said that’s no longer the case, since a local bond passed in 2015 to fund construction of shelters for every district building.
Romines and other Moore Public Schools administrators reflected on that tragic day 11 years ago and shared lessons learned on crisis response and recovery efforts during a Sept. 18 panel at the Association of School Business Officials International’s annual conference.
Reunify school communities ASAP
As schools develop their own specific crisis plans, it’s important to make staff, students and parents aware of where reunification sites — and alternative reunification sites — are located, said Dustin Horstkoetter, the district’s director of safety and security.
“Have a backup to the backup to the backup,” Horstkoetter said.
Michelle McNear, who served as principal at Wayland Bonds Elementary during the 2013 storm and is now deputy superintendent of human resources, said she remembered watching the tornado stop right in front of her school and then head down a different route.
In a severe situation like this, McNear said she could not carry out her school’s standard checkout system to release students to their parents. With over 650 students in the building, McNear said, at one point she had to check out over 300 students within three to four minutes.
“I told my teachers to get a roster, and if we called the names, just mark the kids off,” McNear said. “We could not do it in the office and keep up, but we needed to get our kids to their parents.”
After such a tragedy, it’s also important to bring students back into their school community as quickly as possible, said McNear.
McNear said staff were brought back into the schools that were still in good condition days after the tornado to have a chance to be with each other. Students were also able to return to pick up supplies and see their teachers before the summer break began.
“Kids need to see their teacher. They need to see their principal,” McNear said. “They need to be in their building. They need the familiar.”
Prioritize mental health counseling
McNear said it’s crucial to invest in mental health counseling for both students and staff immediately after a crisis. Within a day after an emergency, counseling services need to be made available.
“If you don’t deal with the counseling component on this, you will pay for it for years to come in your district, I promise you on that,” McNear said. “We’ve seen it through our administrators. We’ve seen it through our kids.”
Following the tornado, the district made counseling services available throughout the summer and into the next school year, McNear added. “So have your resources in place before something happens.” This includes triage sites for counseling centers, she said.
Memorialize the lives lost
When the district decided to rebuild a new elementary school at the Plaza Towers Elementary site, administrators wanted to create a memorial in collaboration with the families of the students who died that day.
The memorial includes seven granite benches, each with the name of a child inscribed. The bench designs reflect each student’s passions and interests, McNear said.
“There’s a story to be told here with our seven students,” Romines said. “Like Ms. McNear said, it’s a very friendly environment, but there is a story there, and … it’s continued to be told.”
In his own personal way to memorialize that day, Romines said he still has a clock he found intact in a Briarwood Elementary classroom after the tornado. “That’s when time stood still at Briarwood, and that clock sits in my office today as a gentle reminder.”
