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Three Marshalltown schools recovering from $160,000 tornado damage

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - School continues as it has every year at Woodbury Elementary School, but many of the northeastern Marshalltown neighborhood’s residents are still recovering from storm damage.

Three of Marshalltown’s six elementary school buildings received $160,000 in damage from the July 19 tornado. The physical scars caused by the strong winds are fading while the trauma remains for many children.

The tornado swept by Franklin Elementary in northwest Marshalltown first, ripping up the roof, eliminating parking lot lights and warping fences. It moved to the Rogers Elementary neighborhood, taking with it a storage shed. Finally, the tornado tore through the Woodbury Elementary neighborhood in northeast Marshalltown and damaged the school’s roof, flag pole and more.

“We’re actually in really good shape, especially now that it’s a little cooler,” said Franklin Principal Tim Holmgren.

He said the school’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system took a big hit during the tornado and the air-cooling functions didn’t work while the heating functions are in better shape.

Woodbury Principal Anel Garza said there has been a lot of repair progress at her building, too.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Franklin Elementary got hit the hardest in the tornado, and there’s still a lot of work to be done on the building’s roof.

“The only thing I’m a little concerned about is our roof in our gym. When it rains a lot, it will still leak,” she said. “We had that broken window too, but that was repaired.

Rogers Principal Mick Jurgensen said his building got relatively little damage. A part of the roof was impacted by the winds and a storage shed has to be replaced, but otherwise the grounds were largely unharmed – the same cannot be said about the surrounding neighborhood.

“The hardest part is to every day see the aftermath,” Jurgensen said. “It’s really kind of a surreal thing.”

Marshalltown Schools Buildings and Grounds Director Chuck Springer said the $160,000 in damage to the three buildings will increase as more repairs are made.

“Most of the work has been accomplished, we’ve still got a few things that are hanging out there,” he said.

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Pieces of metal like these were stripped from the Woodbury Elementary School roof in the July 19 tornado. Without these reminders, it would be hard to tell any damage happened on the building’s roof.

The student impact

The school district can rely on insurance to cover the costs of repairs to buildings and grounds after the tornado, but the toll the storm took on area children has also been a concern.

“Anytime there’s a big storm, we get kids that are scared, or if we have drills, we have kids that get scared again, just reliving that trauma that happened,” said Woodbury and Franklin social worker Samantha Slocum.

She said district social workers are “working with (students) on trying to cope and move forward and not be so scared with every storm.”

The building principals agreed that many students are still feeling the impact of the tornado.

“We do still have a few families who are still displaced, who are still in need of certain things because they’re still recovering from physical damage, so we’re still trying to help some of those families,” Garza said. “(Students) are very aware of the weather now, more so than before.”

Jurgensen said the impact is not spread equally among all Rogers students. He said some students whose homes were directly hit seem to be coping well, while other children who live further from the damage area have increased anxiety about storms.

“Different people have different levels of resiliency,” he said.

Jurgensen said he was impressed by families in the Rogers neighborhood and across town for their “strength and fortitude and resiliency” since the tornado.

The principals said the community has done a good job of helping the schools and students.

“We still have community people and agencies who reach out to us from time to time. There are other programs in place, like Shoes That Fit, that the community really gets behind,” Holmgren said. “We benefit greatly from a community of givers.”

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Contact Adam Sodders at

(641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com

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