Once the high school is complete later this summer, it will hold 2,500 people. The general capacity of each gymnasium shelter is around 1,000–1,500 students. The district applied for Federal Emergency Management Agency grants that would pay 75 percent of a storm shelter’s costs. “Post-tornado when we walked the damaged schools, looked at hallways, we realized hey, this is not a safe place for students just even by debris and vending machines being thrown down hallways,” he says. With the exception of a few basements, the city’s schools didn’t have storm shelters, but Cravens says taking cover in hallways is no longer a viable option. ![]() “It even says missile resistant on the sign so that gives you a little sense of comfort for the quality of the construction,” Cravens says.īecause Joplin’s tornado hit on a Sunday, students weren’t at school, but the storm was a huge wakeup call. The shelter is a place for fun and childhood games, but Jason Cravens, executive director of secondary education, says he’s confident the structure will also save lives, since it’s hardened to withstand winds up to 250 miles per hour. ![]() “They look like places that we use every day and we do use them every day.” “The great thing about the storm shelters is that they don’t look like storm shelters,” says Principal Nila Vance. The building’s centrally located gymnasium doubles as a reinforced storm shelter. Construction should be complete on all facilities by August, but a shiny Irving Elementary opened its doors in January. The tornado damaged or destroyed half of the Joplin school district’s 20 buildings, including the high school, three elementary sites and a middle school. That near miss caused officials with the Joplin schools to look at storm shelters in a new light. If the day and time had been different, that community could have become known for students killed by a storm, instead of Moore, Okla. ![]() at a time when children were not in their classrooms. Two years ago, a violent tornado hit Joplin, Mo.
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