Mississippi tornadoes: School district reopening is much more than classroom learning

Published 6:15 am Tuesday, April 11, 2023

A northeast Mississippi school district is restarting classes on Tuesday after a March 24 tornado damaged the local high school.

Classes in the 1,500-student Amory district will resume, although officials say they won’t run school buses Tuesday because of safety hazards from roadside debris and heavy equipment. The district says it will re-evaluate each day if it’s safe to run buses.

The district says any student who can’t make it to school Tuesday will be allowed to make up work.

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Amory High School students held their prom dance as scheduled on Saturday.

State officials reported 1,500 homes in Monroe County, which includes Amory, were damaged in the March 24 tornado. The state counts 21 people who died in twisters that day, with damage stretching from Rolling Fork in the state’s Delta region northeastward through Amory and into Alabama. A 33-year-old man and his infant daughter died in Wren, near Amory, with other injuries reported in Monroe County.

The South Delta School school district, which includes the severely damaged town of Rolling Fork in Sharkey County, had not set a timeline last week on when it would reopen, WAPT-TV reported.