A hail of a tale: Hartman Elementary’s story
photo credit: Hunter Nardiello
Lovable look outs \\ Stuffed animals align the boarded up windows damaged from the April 11 hail storm in the fourth grade hall at Hartman Elementary. “They are watching out for more hail,” First Grade Teacher Trona Jurden said.
April 14, 2016
A storm from hail
Fourth grade Hartman teacher Jennifer Cline walked into students moving desks into the hallway and construction workers putting up boards on her window. The elementary school was one of the hardest hit campuses in the district.
“All of my stuff was in the hallway,” Cline said. “There were vacuums on the floor and trash cans catching dripping water. It was a mess.”
A destructive hailstorm hit Wylie April 11, sending hail through ceilings and windows. The hail caused significant damage to schools, including Hartman Elementary school, one of the four feeder schools.
“My classroom was destroyed,” Cline said. “The windows were shattered, the carpet, books and decorations on the walls were all soaked.”
Classes in the district were cancelled April 12 so families could recover from the hail storm. The fourth grade teacher was repeatedly moved from room to room so class could continue as usual the next day.
“At first I had to teach in my room with the glass, but they immediately moved me to the music room,” Cline said. “I was finally moved into the small conference room.”
Students in the school responded positively to the constant switching of rooms.
“The students are very resilient to moving back and forth,” Cline said. “They view it as kind of a field trip and find it exciting.”
Because of the relocation, Cline had to switch up a lot of her lesson plans.
“It’s been really stressful not having all the resources I need to teach,”Cline said. “They boxed everything I had out before I could get what I need. It’s been a bit difficult, especially with the STAAR test just around the corner.”
Cline doesn’t know when she’ll be moved back into her own room, but will work with administration so the crisis can be solved.
“Superintendent Dr. David Vincent and Principal Shawna Ballast have done an amazing job by getting everything needed,” Cline said. “They’ve made a difficult situation easy to handle.”
Read other stories in this series:
A hail of a tale: Haleigh’s story
A hail of a tale: Kendall’s story
A hail of a tale: Syrina’s story