Tornadoes and Schools

Yesterday, Moore, Oklahoma was flattened by an F-5 tornado yesterday around school dismissal time.  Two elementary schools were demolished with children inside.  So far, seven children have been declared dead, while many more are missing.

When I arrived home and began watching the television footage, it took my breath away when I saw the school, and the reporter said that students in Kindergarten through third grade were in one school and were missing.  They said that the third grade was in one particular part of the school, and  . . . it no longer existed.  Nothing was there except a slab of concrete.  I nearly burst into tears.  Does that mean the entire grade level was swept away?  Looking at the destruction, how did anyone survive?  What were the students thinking?  What were the teachers thinking?

When there is a school disaster, people immediately start questioning.  Why did they keep the students in the school when they knew a storm was coming?  Why didn't they send the students home? Wouldn't the students have been safer at their own homes? Why did they hold school that day knowing a storm was coming?

Educators have to make the best decisions they can with the information they have.  Their ultimate goal is to keep everyone safe.  Period.  The educators in Moore did what they could with the time and resources they had.  Right or wrong.

There are stories of teachers lying on top of students to shield them.  Teachers praying out loud.  Teachers yelling that everything would be OK as the tornado was overhead.

Everyday, teachers spend more waking time with students than most parents.  They put their students first and would lay down their lives for them.  We have seen it time and time again.

Once a teacher has a student in class, that student becomes like that teacher's child.  The teacher not only cares for the student during those 9 months he/she has them, but the teacher wonders about the students for years (even a lifetime) after the students walk out the door.

Educators do what they can to shield and protect students.

My heart and prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones, especially children, and to the educators who did what they could and lost lives in their schools.