‘Pretty much all gone’ | Teachers figuring out next steps after tornado destroys elementary school in Alvin

ALVIN, Texas — The community in Alvin is coming together after a devasting EF-2 tornado ripped through Brazoria County Saturday, destroying Walt Disney Elementary School.

The damage to the school is extensive, with the roof caved in and several classrooms covered in debris. Alvin ISD said the school serves more than 500 students, grades 3 to 5. Those students will not be able to learn inside the Walt Disney Elementary building for the foreseeable future.

Teachers told KHOU 11 News that they were devastated by all the destruction. Fifth-grade reading and social studies teacher Sarah Green said her classroom was completely gutted, as well as the classrooms of her neighboring teachers.

“Everything in her room shoved into my room and then shoved into our partner teacher’s room,” Green said. “It looks like it’s pretty much all gone.”

For many teachers, a lot of the supplies in their classrooms are materials they have bought with their own money. Green said that is upsetting, but what is also heartbreaking are the lost memories and small touches to the classrooms that have been destroyed.

“You start to think about all the things that you’ve collected. And your students’ notes on the wall, and it’s kind of overwhelming,” Green said. “It’s just stuff. It’s stuff we love, and we care about. I have pictures from my own college graduation on the walls to motivate and share with my kids that they can dream big and do anything, and you can’t get that stuff back.”

The Alvin ISD Education Foundation set up a fund over the weekend, and all the proceeds from that will go directly to Walt Disney Elementary teachers to help them replace materials lost in the tornado.

Corey Scopel, owner of the local restaurant Corey’s Kitchen, decided he wanted to help the teachers in need. He said Corey’s Kitchen will donate $2 from every sale of their weekly special to the fund set up by the Alvin ISD Education Foundation.

Scopel said it was important for him to do something – as someone who lives in the community, but also as someone who has family members who are current students at Walt Disney Elementary School.

“We’re a small town, and this is what we do. You know, we come together in times of need. Those teachers put their heart and soul in our futures, the future leaders of our community. That was tore away from them, so anything that we can do to help, we wanted to do it,” Scopel said.

As far as classroom instruction is concerned, Alvin ISD Superintendent of Schools Carol Nelson told KHOU 11 News reporter Orko Manna that the district is working on setting up another building on Rosharon Road for students and teachers.

“It’s an old elementary school, previously, but we’re having to get our technology crews in, our maintenance in, do painting and do access points for technology and basically set up a new school within a week,” Nelson said.

Nelson said the goal is to have the building fully equipped and up and running by Jan. 7, the day that students return back to class from the winter break. 

Nelson also said Alvin ISD is currently working on creating transportation routes so that students – especially those who biked or walked to Walt Disney Elementary School – can easily get to the temporary learning facility on Rosharon Road.

Fifth-grade student Jordan O’Quinn said he is grateful, despite all the chaos.

“I’ll really miss the school, but… we’re all together, and we’re lucky we weren’t in the school when the tornado hit,” O’Quinn said.

Alvin ISD said Monday that it is still unclear if the Walt Disney Elementary School building will need to be demolished. They added that the insurance adjusters are still assessing the damage.