DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF)- Dallas ISD is slowly picking up the pieces after an EF-3 Tornado ripped through North Dallas on October 20th.
At the peak, 21 campuses located across DISD were affected as well as one district facility. Now, three schools are a total loss and DISD managed to relocate students into safe buildings quickly. Walnut Hill Elementary School students were relocated to Tom Field Elementary School which is a little under 5 miles away. Students at Thomas Jefferson High School were relocated to Tomas Edison Learning Center, 9.2 miles away. Lastly, Cary Middle School Students were broken up by address; 290 students went to Franklin Middle and 304 students went to Medrano Middle School.
DISD Transportation Staff made 38 additional bus routes within 24 hours to make sure students were able to get to these new school locations and breakfast and lunch services were relocated and adjusted within 24 hours.
All three schools considered a total loss (Cary, Thomas Jefferson and Walnut) have 24 hour police security to make sure no one goes in.
Roofs are temporarily covered and windows are boarded in order to make sure no more water can get inside.
Schools were looked at for asbestos and there will be more structural assessments this week before teachers can return to school and pick up their belongings. Dallas ISD Deputy Superintendent Scott Layne said it’s going to take a long time before everything is back to normal. Structural Engineers will also be called in to determine long term damage. “It’ll be closer to Thanksgiving to determine the full cost of damages,” said Layne.
Layne said they are also looking into some ways the heavily damaged schools can be transformed. They are considering an option to turn Thomas Jefferosn into a K-12 school and possibly turning Walnut Hill Elementary into a career tech center. “This is all still up in the air but it’s important to discuss possibilities,” said Layne.
Dallas ISD is talking with insurance adjusters and figuring out the next step. Layne said the district is covered up to $500 million per occurance with a $2 million deductible. FEMA plans to assess damage on Wednesday to see if more money can be brought in as well as other federal entities to off set the deductible.
