Tips for Teachers of Destroyed Iowa Schools: It's About Community and Shared Traditions
Release Date: August 15, 2008
Release Number: 1763-160
» More Information on Iowa Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Flood and tornado damage will heighten first-day-of-school anxieties for some in Iowa this year. A former principal from Grand Forks, N.D., offers a few words of advice - and comfort - because she knows what students and teachers face in the aftermath of a disaster.
Dr. Ann Porter was principal of Lincoln Elementary School when it was destroyed by the Red River flood that inundated Grand Forks and neighboring towns in 1997, forcing more than 60,000 people from their homes, including her family.
She offers a few tips on how to deal with school displacement.
She recommends that children be allowed to grieve. The new school year did not start before students and staff said goodbye to Lincoln. For one day they gathered at the old school building for a remembrance ceremony. Food was served and pictures were taken in front of the flood-damaged building. "There was closure," said Porter. It was an important part of a grieving process because children were dealing with losses loss of homes, familiar surroundings, and memories.
About 120 students out of the 200 that once attended Lincoln began school the following fall at Calvary Lutheran Church. "We moved our place," said Porter. "But we were the same school." The governor visited to show his support, but more important, the school continued the same traditions they held at the old place.
They continued with their pot luck dinner tradition, inviting families and students. They also revived a tradition of creating a mural with a resident artist. They lost the Lincoln mural to the flood but went on to create a new one. The artist returned and directed them in painting one that featured the past, present and a journey to the future.
"I can't stress enough the importance of using the fine arts - painting, music, writing - to help children work through these situations," said Porter. Students wrote poetry with the guidance of an area children's book author and a former Lincoln parent, Jane Kurtz (www.janekurtz.com). Porter also suggested encouraging children to keep a journal. "It's a very helpful way to deal with emotions." Many of the activities, including an all-school field trip to a pumpkin patch, were paid for with grants or donations from civic groups, other schools, and individuals.
Porter and the teachers also initiated the Lincoln History Project to celebrate the nearly 50-year history of the school. Through interviewing for and writing about its past, children broadened their sense of community and developed an appreciation for Lincoln Elementary School's past.
Porter wants teachers in Iowa to know that it is critical to let parents know that their children are comfortable and safe. It eases the anxiety parents already have about their situations.
Porter's approach paid off. Anxieties among the students and staff were little more than a mild undercurrent and discipline problems were minimal.
A new elementary school, named Phoenix to mark the city's rebirth, was opened the following fall, about a year and a half after the flood. It replaced two elementary schools with a long history - Belmont and Lincoln. Phoenix represented a new start with the comfort of past traditions and the hopes for a better future.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Friday, 15-Aug-2008 13:24:38