Asked And Answered: At a Demolished School, Moving On and Looking Ahead

 

Last month, Tushka, Okla., with a population of 312, was hit by a tornado that damaged much of the town, killed two people and virtually destroyed its school. Tushka, which is the Choctaw word for “warrior,” is finding its way back amid difficult circumstances. Bill Pennington, the town’s school superintendent, discusses.

Students at the public school in Tushka, Okla., collected belongings and surveyed damage from the tornado.

Q. How badly was Tushka damaged?

A. The school is probably 80 percent destroyed. The town itself — it’s hard to say. Two hundred fifty homes or so have been damaged, 60 or 70 of them are total losses.

Q. The school consisted of a large main building and several smaller buildings. What was lost?

A. The main building was lost. It was a two-story brick building built in 1919. There were 25 school buildings and they were nearly all damaged. We lost the elementary school, which had about eight classrooms; the middle school, which also had about eight classrooms; two computer labs; the library and media center; and the gym. At the high school, we lost six classrooms; the industrial arts building, where we had shop classes; the cafeteria; the baseball and softball fields; the girls’ locker room, too.

Q. With the school destroyed, where are the area’s 470 students going to class?

A. The high school kids are over in Atoka, about six miles away, at the vocational tech building. Here in town, we’ve got a big tent put up at the church with about 40 kids. The good thing is there’s two teachers with them, so it’s not so bad. There are port-a-potties. It’s not the best situation. It’s not overcrowded, but it’s not ideal. The attendance rate has been real good. There are also classes in the church sanctuary and two classes are being held in the fellowship hall.

Q. How are you managing things like food for students and classroom supplies?

A. We’re cooking for 400 or 500 people at the First Baptist Church. It had some roof damage but it’s been repaired. We’ve got five cooks. We load the food into cars and take it to various sites. We’ve got supply shortages, but area schools and local communities have really helped. They’ve brought backpacks for the kids. General supplies have flooded in. It’s been unbelievable.

Q. What’s next?

A. We’re going to rebuild as much as we can. We’ve got four buildings that can be fixed up fine. I don’t know how, but the tornado bounced one way or another over the top of them somehow. I think by the start of school in August we will have portable buildings, about 20 of them, so all the students will be back in Tushka. But we need to rebuild the school. We have 40 acres across the highway. It will take a year and a half or two years, at least, to build it and cost $9 million. We’ll get some funding. We’ve got a plan, and I think it’s a doable plan. I really think we can do it.

Otsuchi Journal: Town Torn by Tsunami Sees Reopened School as a Therapeutic Step

“In this disaster, we lost many precious things,” said Nagayoshi Ono, the principal of one of the two schools that have shared the building since Kirikiri reopened two weeks ago, because it is Otsuchi’s sole surviving middle school. “We face a test like a nation at war, and how we respond to this test is up to us.”

Two months after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Japan’s northern coastline, survivors are moving to pick up the pieces. As in many hard-hit areas, teachers and students at this tiny middle school seem to share a conviction that by seeking to resume pre-disaster routines, they can move their devastated communities a step closer toward healing.

This quest to regain normalcy comes in the face of levels of adversity not seen here since the dark days after World War II.

Students walk or take buses to school across plains of flattened rubble, where neighborhoods once stood. They arrive at a building where 300 students must fit into space built for a third that number. Most sports have been canceled because the school’s playing field is being filled with prefabricated apartments for some of Otsuchi’s thousands of newly homeless. Half of the students live in refugee shelters, and many lost one or both parents.

Then there are the two eighth-grade girls who did not survive on March 11, when the earthquake and tsunami left more than 1,600 people dead or missing in this town of 15,000. Tiny bouquets of small blue flowers were set on their empty desks.

“I feel they are here with us, somewhere,” said Mr. Ono, 55, the principal of Otsuchi Middle School, whose students are now being bused across a mountain to Kirikiri after the tsunami gutted their school. “They want us to persevere.”

Despite the sorrow and loss, Mr. Ono and the others seem determined to maintain an almost defiant cheerfulness. As busloads of Otsuchi Middle School’s students arrived at Kirikiri on a recent morning, Mr. Ono and a half-dozen teachers stood at the entrance, welcoming students with loud greetings of “Good morning!” The students bowed back, some smiling bashfully or trading quick jokes with teachers.

Throughout the day, teachers constantly urged students to smile and “persevere” — or “ganbaru,” a word frequently heard in Japan these days.

The teachers said that while the school was now far from an ideal learning environment, it was important to bring the children back. They said they wanted school to offer students an escape from the stresses of living in refugee shelters, and a chance to share with peers their experiences during the disaster.

“These are students who have lost homes and parents,” said Noriko Sasaki, 36, a seventh-grade English teacher, who greeted students. “School allows them to come back to something familiar and safe.”

Many students agreed.

“I usually don’t like school, but I wanted to come this time to talk about where we were during the tsunami,” said Kiyoshi Kimura, 14, an eighth grader who said his house had been destroyed and several relatives killed.

He shared his memories of the tsunami almost eagerly with classmates in a narrow hallway.

“It was more like an approaching cloud than a wall of water,” he exclaimed, referring to the dust the waves kicked up as they toppled buildings in their path.

Kota Iwai, 14, was a classmate of one of the girls who was killed. While he was sad about her death, he was happy to get away from the refugee shelter in an elementary school gymnasium where he and his family have slept since losing their home.

“I haven’t seen my friends since the tsunami,” he said. “We were all scattered.”

Makiko Inoue contributed reporting.

School leavers 'lack key skills'

 9 May 2011 Last updated at 00:00 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter  Only 45% of pupils in England get a grade C or better in English and maths Too many young people are leaving school without adequate basic skills, a survey of business leaders suggests.

More than four out of 10 are unhappy with youngsters' use of English, while 35% bemoan their numeracy skills.

The annual study of 566 UK employers for the Confederation of British Industry also heralds a shortage of high-skilled employees, particularly in maths and science.

The government said the CBI was right to raise concerns over basic skills.

The organisation's annual education and skills survey also suggests that many employers (44%) have had to invest in remedial training for school and college leavers.

Despite the claims, last year's GCSE results were the highest on record with seven out of 10 entries being awarded a grade C or above.

Companies also said young people lacked important employability skills.

Some 69% complained about inadequate business and customer awareness and 55% highlighted poor self-management skills.

The survey also highlighted a lack of available skilled staff. Some 43% were unable to find science, technology, engineering and maths specialists (Stem). And 53% predicted problems in finding such staff in the future.

Two-thirds thought the government should tackle these shortages by doing more to promote maths and science in schools and supporting Stem-related apprenticeships.

John Cridland, director general of the CBI, said: "It's alarming that a significant number of employers have concerns about the basic skills of school and college leavers.

"Companies do not expect schools and colleges to produce 'job-ready' young people, but having a solid foundation in basic skills such as literacy and numeracy is fundamental for work."

On the Stem shortage, he added: "With UK businesses looking to win a larger share of global markets as we re-balance the economy, the skills bar is constantly being raised by international competition.

"Higher-skilled employees, especially in science, technology, engineering and maths will be some of the most in demand.

"The government must improve the take-up of science and maths in schools and support the development of Stem apprenticeship programmes so that employers are able to recruit the right people to drive growth."

He added that with 930,000 16 to 24-year-olds currently inactive the "danger was stark".

'Key subjects'

A spokesman for the Department for Education said the CBI was right to raise concerns about the standards of English and maths of so many young people.

"Only 45% of young people get a C or better in GCSE English and maths at 16. And just 4% of those who fail then go on to achieve this from 16 to 19," he said.

"Yet it is good qualifications in these key subjects that employers demand before all others - that's why we are prioritising them."

The spokesman added: "The recruitment of specialist maths teachers, introducing phonics-based reading for six-year-olds and restoring the rigour of GCSE and A-level exams are all part of the overall package to raise participation across the board."