Hundreds Pitch In After Tornado Destroys Elementary School In Glenn Heights
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RED OAK (CBSDFW.COM) - Hundreds of volunteers spent Monday preparing a temporary school for students after a tornado destroyed Donald T. Shield's Elementary school in Glenn Heights.
Red Oak ISD superintendent Scott Niven said the school sustained a direct hit from Saturday's tornado.
"Walls are down, a lot of the infrastructure... torn down," he said.
The library, cafeteria and almost every classroom inside the school was destroyed in the storm.
"Shield's is not a building. It's the staff, it's the teachers so wherever they are, that's going to be Shield's elementary," said Niven.
Four-hundred volunteers spent hours taking desks, chairs and anything they could salvage out of Shield's Elementary and into the former Red Oak Intermediate School.
"It was just sitting here. Very fortunate we had this available to us," said Niven.
The district closed the old Red Oak Intermediate School four years ago and had plans to open it again in a few years. But after Saturday's storm, Niven said, the Red Oak building was the best option to get the kids back to school.
District staff members, students and parents painted and cleaned the old Red Oak building so it will look and feel more like an elementary school.
"I appreciate it more than you'll ever know," expressed Niven.
The temporary location is expected to be ready by next Tuesday. The Red Oak building will house Shield's Elementary for at least the next semester, according to Niven.
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