Looking for a Middle School Reading Comprehension Worksheet Templates? Download it for free!

Vale Middle School Reading Article

Schools Face Tough Calls With Tornado Outbreak (1190L)

School officials' decision can depend in part on the strength of school buildings — some in

Notes on my thoughts,

Oklahoma, for instance, have FEMA-certified safe rooms — and the types of homes in the area.

reactions and questions as I

Consideration also goes to whether an adult will be present when a student is dropped off.

read:

Oldham County, Ky., school Superintendent Paul Upchurch said his district has dismissed early

once in seven years, and it "was very, very rough." Some children arrived home alone and didn't

know what to do as the storm approached. The district now requires parents to pick children up if

there's an early dismissal or they'll be sheltered at the school.

School leaders and weather experts say there's no solution that fits every scenario. In Madison

County, Ala., school officials prefer to send students home instead of keeping them in school

because that reduces the potential for mass fatalities, said Geraldine Tibbs, communications

director. But other districts think schools may be the best place to seek shelter.

On Friday, officials at different schools made different decisions. In Piner, Ky., Principal Christi

Jefferds pulled her elementary students off buses and had them ride out the storm at the school.

Upchurch sent his elementary students home but wished he had held middle and high school

students who were on buses when the storm hit.

In Indiana, Reed said officials at West Clark Community Schools, which runs the Henryville

schools, held the buses a few minutes after school but decided to let them go when there

appeared to be a break in the bad weather. The drivers hadn't pulled out yet when the tornado

sirens sounded. "I thought, well, I'm gonna floor this baby. I don't care what the law is," said

driver Tom Dietrich, 69. He eventually found himself driving straight toward the tornado and

pulled over, running with three remaining students to a house. They made it to the crawl space

just as hail started coming down. On the buses, normally noisy children were quiet. Some told

jokes to cover their fear. Smaller children cried, and some put their coats over their heads.

Kayla Lory, 14, said the danger didn't sink in until her bus driver, Fran Munk, asked two older

boys to be ready to help evacuate the bus and told students not to walk off the bus, but to run.

"Their eyes were huge," Lory said of the students' reaction. "It just blows my mind how we got

home and got safe." Driver Christina Anderson, 36, said she slowed to a "rolling stop" to let

students unload, but no more. With all of them dropped off, she headed home with her three

children and her son's girlfriend still on board. They turned a corner and saw an enormous funnel

cloud.

"I debated whether to stop and find a ditch to take cover in, but there was just open field,"

Anderson said. She sped back toward her car, which was parked near the school. They all

jumped in the back seat, and Anderson threw herself on top of the children. The funnel cloud

lifted one side of the car twice, but they survived. Munk has no doubt how it happened. "It's just

so evident that God was in control that day," he said. "The sirens were going off. We really

should have unloaded the buses and sent the kids back into the school, but we didn't."

Associated Press. Schools face tough calls with tornado outbreak. March 6, 2012. Available at

What is Mardi Gras? Available at

Retrieved Feb. 21, 2012.

Retrieved March 6, 2012.

Schools Face Tough Calls With Tornado Outbreak (1190l) - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet Page 2

Related Articles

Related forms

Related Categories