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VAN (CBSDFW.COM) – It is like the first day of school again in Van on Monday, a week after a tornado damaged an estimated 30 percent of the city. The Van Independent School District opened its doors back up to students for the first time since the storm.
There was a lot of anticipation around the Monday opening. Teachers and school district employees worked hard to get the buildings ready for kids, and help came in from near and far.
Students from neighboring school districts — like Crandall ISD and Martin’s Mill ISD — have shown their support with donation drives and fundraisers. Students in Van even opened a lemonade stand.
The Van ISD’s elementary and intermediate school were heavily damaged by the May 10 tornado. The district obtained a waiver to dismiss some early elementary school kids for the remaining 12 days of the school year.
Repairs to the school buildings will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But the challenge has united people in many ways, as everyone steps in to assist in the recovery effort.
It will take months to fix the damage but, Superintendent Don Dunn said, it was important for the students to return to their classes, if they could. Dunn explained early Monday, “After such an extraordinary event and week, I don’t know if there’s something we could have done to prepare them for today other than getting them back in school.”
Teachers greeted children on Monday with hugs and well wishes. Some students lost their entire homes in the tornado.
“We’ll never be the same again, but I hope that this gives people a stronger foundation in these small communities, that we come together and nobody’s left behind,” said parent Jaci Hamman.
The tornado damaged most of the district’s school bus fleet. Van is borrowing buses from Tyler, Lindale and a few other school districts on Monday and Tuesday. The city hopes to have their own buses up and running by Wednesday.