Storm Damage Forces Tulsa Charter School To Temporarily Relocate

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Dozens of elementary students at a Tulsa school are finally back in class after last week's storms ripped apart a school roof.

Teachers at Christian Montessori Academy have been scrambling to figure out a way to finish the school year.

5/13/2010 Related Story: Tulsa Charter School Director: Storm Damage Is 'Devastating'

Up close, it looks like a regular day for the elementary kids at the Christian Montessori Academy. But take a step back and you see that something, is different.

"I don't really know, we're kind of in limbo right now," said Mollie Heablerin, Montessori Teacher.

Last week's brutal storms caused the roof to cave in at the school's East Tulsa location. The damage was severe and Mollie Heaberlin canceled classes until further notice. She's been working to find a new home for the last week of school.

"We have a parent that works for Clear Channel, and she said ‘hey, we have a space that we haven't been using, so let me make some phone calls, let me do some checking, and see what we can work out," she said.

The teachers are trying to make the 60 kids feel like they're back in the classroom.

"To bring them back, even if it is only three days so they can finish out the school year, it's an element of closure that they would not have had otherwise," Heablerin said. "So it's very important for them."

Obviously, the event center has a ton more space. But still, the children say there's no place like home.

"I feel happy that we can still have school, but still sad that we had to move locations," Riley Brown, 12, said.

Teachers hope the building will be fixed by fall but with severe weather season just heating up, even that is up in the air.

"We will still have school, we will still go on," Heaberlin said. "It's just a matter of where we'll be."

The Christian Montessori Academy has a summer day camp that starts on June 1st. The month-long camp will run out of the same temporary facility, at the Clear Channel Event Center.

How To Help

A Christian Montessori Academy Restoration Fund has been set up at the Tulsa Teacher's Credit Union at 3702 South 90th East Avenue (37th and Mingo) or 2625 South Memorial.