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JUNE 2012
Schools and universities must move
forward after catastrophes to make sure
students continue to learn and grow.
A PENTON MEDIA PUBLICATION
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rEcovEring
from TrAgEdy
Schools and universities must move forward after catastrophes
to make sure students continue to learn and grow.
o
by MiKE KEnnEdy
n April 27, 2011, of- campus that housed an elementary community, the response of those
ficials with the Tusca- and a middle school, sustained severe affected may vary. But whether it’s a
loosa (Ala.) city school damage. Since the tornado, students hurricane like the one that decimated
system had been alerted have been relocated to other cam- the Gulf Coast in 2005, deadly vioto the possibility of severe weather— puses, and school district officials lence like the attack at Virginia Tech
the forecast called for storms, pos- have come together with others—city in 2007, or killer tornados like those
and state officials, community lead- that cut a path of destruction last
sibly tornados.
“We called off school the day of the ers, volunteers—to develop a plan year through Tuscaloosa and Joplin,
storm because of the threats,” says that will rebuild the damaged school Mo., the schools in those communities have little choice but to push
Jeff Johnson, executive director of campuses.
“This has brought us together,” forward and transform a traumatic
facilities for Tuscaloosa City Schools.
“But we didn’t think anything this bad says Johnson. “Before this happened, situation into an opportunity for
we were cooperative, but everybody improvements.
would happen.”
After administrators determine
What happened was a tornado kind of had his own game plan. But
with winds of up to 200 miles an hour since the tornado, it has just been that a school has been rendered unripped through the area, killing more a phenomenal effort. It amazes me usable because of a catastrophe, their
first duty is to quickly find a place for
than 60 people and causing damage every time I think about it.”
students to continue their schooling.
estimated at more than $2 billion.
In Tuscaloosa, the storm destroyed
One elementary school in Tus- bETTEr And STrongEr
When a catastrophe strikes a Alberta Elementary School, and left
caloosa was destroyed, and another
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After a tornado destroyed much of Joplin, Mo., in 2011, an elementary and
middle school is being rebuilt.
rendering by Hollis + miller Architects and Joplin School District
University Place middle and elemen- city officials and other community officials hope to create a greenway
tary schools with enough damage leaders for the future of the neigh- trail called CityWalk that generally
would follow the path that the dethat students could not return there. borhood that Alberta served.
“We’ve talked about making the structive tornado took through the
In Tuscaloosa, once accommodations
were found in buildings with unde- school site more accessible and mak- city and end at the planned site for
rutilized classrooms or through the ing it more green so it can have a Alberta Elementary.
While discussions continue with
acquisition of temporary modular more positive effect on the commufacilities, district officials turned nity,” says Johnson. “It’s only about the community about the best kind
their attention to more permanent three-quarters of a mile from the of school to serve the area, the dismain University (of Alabama), so trict plans to conduct a demographic
space solutions.
The district plans to carry out we think it could be very inviting for study to see how many students and
families intend to return to the area
renovations at the University Place new housing.”
A new school can be built closer to that had been served by Alberta. The
campus so that both the elementary
and middle schools can reopen in the neighborhood’s main thorough- more extensive planning means that
2013. But at Alberta, rather than fare because structures that had been a new Alberta Elementary wouldn’t
build a new school at an accelerated there were leveled in the tornado. be ready for students until 2014.
pace, district officials have adopted The city has purchased land in the
a more deliberate process that looks area and may work with the school “ShoPKo high”
Less than a month after Tuscanot just at the immediate space needs district to build a city park near the
of the district, but also the vision of new Alberta. In addition, city park loosa experienced the devastation
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recovering
from tragedy
from a deadly tornado, an even more
lethal twister devastated Joplin, Mo.
More than 160 people died in the
May 22, 2011, storm—what has been
called the worst U.S. tornado in more
than 50 years. Several schools were
destroyed or seriously damaged, most
notably the town’s only high school.
While still searching for missing
persons and grieving those that had
been killed, district officials made
a promise to those who remained:
Schools would open as scheduled on
Aug. 17.
Officials decided based on the
spaces available that the high school
would have to be split into two campuses—one for grades 9 and 10,
and one for grades 11 and 12. The
site found for the upper grades was
at the Northpark Mall—a vacant
96,000-square-foot big-box site that
formerly housed a Shopko store, and
before that, a Venture store. The
district had to convince the anchor
stores in the mall that the school and
The photos above show the devastation
from a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the
University Place Elementary and Middle
School campus. Photos courtesy of
Tuscaloosa City Schools
The Tuscaloosa, Ala., tornado destroyed Alberta Elementary School. Photo courtesy of
Tuscaloosa City Schools
Clean, dry and safe
When 3.5 inches of rain falls in just 40 minutes, and the water doesn’t have
anywhere to drain, it’s going to stay around for a while. That’s what happened in Ames, Iowa, on Aug. 10, 2010—the culmination of three days of
heavy rain. The water could not be contained by Squaw Creek, which
flows through Ames across the Iowa State University campus. On Aug. 11,
the creek crested at more than 18 feet—8 feet higher than flood stage.
“It happens quickly,” says David Miller, associate vice president for
facilities, planning and management at Iowa State. “There wasn’t much
time to prepare.”
By the time the rain subsided, flood waters had poured into 17 campus structures that accounted for 684,500 square feet of space. Another
35 structures sustained water damage from backed-up storm sewers or
surface water that was far away from the creek.
Meanwhile, thousands of students were preparing to descend on
campus two weeks later for the fall semester.
“It required quite an emergency response,” says Miller.
In 1993, the last time Iowa State had experienced such severe flooding,
the university used its own workers to clean up affected facilities. Experience had taught administrators to bring in outside help.
“In 1993, we did it ourselves,” says Miller. “We had muck and stuff around
everywhere, and I couldn’t go anywhere without my boots on. The way
we did it this time was far more effective. We needed to have buildings
that were clean, dry and safe.”
A cleaning company deployed crews and equipment to Ames and
began pumping out the water, and removing the mud and mold from
the facilities.
The most severely affected buildings were the Lied Recreation Athletic
Center, which had more than 2 feet of water on its first floor; the Scheman
Building, a conference center that had more than 4 feet of water on its
ground floor; and the Hilton Coliseum, the university’s sports arena, where
the floor was under more than 12 feet of standing water.
Because of the massive response, the university was able to begin its
fall 2010 semester without delays. Fixing Hilton Coliseum took longer, but
workers had made enough progress so that the arena could be host to
the season’s opening basketball game in November 2010.
In addition to the immediate cleanup response, Iowa State also re-examined its flood-prevention strategies to see if improvements were warranted.
“We had to look at every opening in all these buildings—every conduit,
every storm sewer,” says Miller.
Among the steps taken: replacing some glass and metal wall panels
with concrete and increasing the thickness of the basement walls in the
Scheman Building to 18 inches from 8 inches.
Since the 1993 floods, Iowa State has not built any sizable structures in
the parts of campus prone to flooding, Miller says. Looking forward, a flood
task force is studying whether there have been shifts in rainfall amounts
and intensity that would require further flood-prevention steps.
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Recovering from tragedy
Flooding left tremendous damage to the Iowa State University campus in 2010.
Photo by Iowa State University/Bob Elbert
Iowa State University, Ames, Scheman Building, after flooding in 2010. Photo by Iowa
State University
Iowa State University, Ames, Hilton Coliseum after flooding in 2010. Photo by Iowa
State University
its students could be accommodated
with minimal disruption to the mall’s
retail operations.
By the time a lease was signed for
the mall space, the architects for the
project, DLR Group and Corner Greer
& Associates, had 55 days to get the
space ready for students to arrive. The
architects had to work quickly while
staying mindful that many of the staff
members and community leaders
they needed to consult with may have
lost loved ones or seen their homes
destroyed.
“We had to be sensitive to what
was happening with people at home,”
says Jim French, DLR Group senior
principal.
To expedite the process and make
Joplin school district staff members
more comfortable with the process,
DLR architects from Kansas City
and Florida moved to Joplin for several weeks and set up operations in a
middle school that also was serving as
the district’s temporary administrative
headquarters.
“Because we were right there, they
knew we were working on it, and they
were available to answer questions every morning for as long as we needed,”
says French.
The short schedule gave architects
the leeway to be more creative. “There
was less second guessing because of
the time frame,” says French. “They
trusted that we would get the job done.”
Despite the rushed schedule, district officials and architects wanted
the school to be more than just a barebones facility.
“They said, ‘Instead of getting us
what we have now, let’s turn this into a
great opportunity.’ We adopted an incubator approach. We could try things
out, and if something wasn’t working
right, we knew it wasn’t permanent.”
The school was divided into six
“centers of knowledge,” each of which
has workshop space for large or small
groups. The layout, which includes
movable furniture and connectivity
for technology, enables teachers to
collaborate more easily and students
to learn through interdisciplinary
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Joplin East Middle School after a devastating
tornado in 2011. Photo by Joplin School District
approaches.
The first year in the mall space,
which some have dubbed “Shopko
High,” has been deemed a success.
“The interim space is working so
well that potentially the district could
keep using it,” says French.
New buildings
Insurance proceeds, federal and
state funding, and donations from
around the world provided the Joplin
district with about $123 million. But
the budget to replace the space lost in
the tornado came to $185 million. The
district asked voters to approve a bond
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The new Joplin East Middle School. Rendering by Hollis + Miller Architects and
Joplin School District
issue for the $62 million shortfall, and
the proposal passed in April.
The high school, which will be
combined with a district technology
center, is projected to cost $104 million and is scheduled to open in 2014.
“The new school is going to have
a lot of the concepts we are using (in
the interim high school),” says French.
DLR Group and Corner Greer are
designing the new high school.
Joplin also has broken ground on
a new Irving Elementary School and
on a campus that will hold both a new
East Middle School and an as-yet unnamed elementary.
John Brown, an architect with
Hollis + Miller Architects, which is
designing the East Middle School and
the adjacent elementary, says that even
before they were selected for the project, staff members from the firm had
gone to Joplin and stayed a couple of
weeks to help with the recovery effort.
“It gave us a sense of what it was
like for them to have gone through,”
says Brown, “and gave us perspective
on how we could help them. They really reacted to the tornado with great
resolve. There was no quit. They were
determined to make the tornado into
a positive.”
continued...
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Joplin High School, after the tornado in 2011. Photos by DLR Group/Alistair Tutton Photography
The completed Joplin Interim High School. Architect: DLR Group. Photos by Alistair Tutton Photography
By connecting the middle and
elementary on the same campus, the
district will save money on building
systems and food services. The shared
campus also will enable students at
one of the schools to take advantage of
resources at the other. Among the distinctive elements of the campus are a
lighthouse that will welcome students
at the front of the middle school, and
an area called the “learning stairs,” an
informal space where students can
study or just hang out and socialize.
“They let us know the things that
were important to pull into their
schools,” says Brown.
East Middle School is projected
to cost $27 million, and the adjacent
elementary is projected to cost $14.3
million. Those schools also are expected to open in 2014. 
Kennedy, staff writer, can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow him
on Twitter @schoolhousebeat.
Wind damage
At their most powerful, tornadoes and hurricanes can flatten a school facility
and turn building components to rubble. But other storms with high winds still
can inflict serious damage to a school. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s “Design Guide for Improving School Safety in Earthquakes,
Floods and High Winds” spells out the most common kinds of damage high
winds from a tornado or hurricane can do to a school facility:
•Damage to roof coverings (including rooftop mechanical, electrical,
and communications equipment) is the most common type of wind damage. For instance, wind can lift metal edge flashing on a roof and pull off
the built-up membrane on the roof.
•Exterior glazing damage is common, often from being struck by airborne
debris.
•Damage to wall coverings, soffits and large doors is common during hurricanes and tornadoes, but less common during other storms, the guide says.
•Collapse of non-load-bearing exterior walls is common during tornadoes,
but is less common during other storms.
•Structural damage (roof deck blow-off, collapse of the roof structure,
collapse of exterior bearing walls, or collapse of the entire building or major
portions thereof) is the principal type of damage that occurs during strong
and violent tornadoes, the guide says.
View the guide online at www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1986.
On the WEb
Read the related article “School Construction Progress” at ASUmag.com.
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