The tornado that ripped through Perryville on March 14 caused major damage to several buildings on the Perry County School District No. 32 campus, resulting in several days of missed classes.
Monday, students in the lower grades were allowed to return to class, but middle school and high school students are expected to face further delays.
So far, said Perryville High School athletic director Justin Dreyer, those missed days and the closed campus haven't had much of an effect on the school's spring sports schedule.
“Right now, we're allowing our teams to practice,” Dreyer said Friday. “One of our biggest things when we were meeting was we want our kids to still have some normalcy.”
Dreyer said this was one thing the district could do to achieve that goal.
“We had a meeting [Thursday] with a school from Arkansas that went through this two years ago and they kind of took the same path with what happened with them. They continued their sports with practices off campus because the kids want that normalcy.”
Until the district completes the steps necessary to resume full operations, much of the campus remains closed. Dreyer said the district is working hard to allow students back in class as soon as possible.
“Right now, our kids are not allowed on campus and our coaches are making it work with practice off campus,” Dreyer said. “The [City Park staff] is working really well with us, and other schools have been working well with us. We've had to move two baseball games away but other schools are kind of opening their arms to us and allowing us to use their equipment and their facilities.”
The two games that were moved included Friday's baseball game against Crystal City and Tuesday's game against Park Hills, which was moved to St. Genenvieve.
“Soccer and golf, this didn't really affect,” Dreyer said, “because everything that we do is off campus anyway. But with track and baseball, those teams use our facilities. So we're working hard. We're making sure it's a safe environment first, and then we're looking forward to bringing those kids back on campus where they can practice and use our facilities.”
Being able to make use of their own facilities, Dreyer feels, can be important for high school athletes, especially the seniors.
“This is their last go around with us, and we want them to experience being on campus and being that normalcy of having a home game here in the last couple months of high school,” Dreyer said, adding that clearing the high school's track and field areas are of special concern.
“Hopefully, we can start utilizing that here soon,” Dreyer said. “But again, we've got to make sure that it's safe with all the debris that's around. There could be nails, broken glass, you know, anything. That's on the parking lot; that's on the track; that's on the inside of the track where the throwers compete.
“We wanted to have safety first. And then, when we do that, we'll bring them back down.”
Dreyer asked that the community remain patient as the district works to deal with the damage.
“We're working hard,” Dreyer said. “We've been working since [the day after the tornado], trying to make plans.
“Just have patience with us and know that we are doing everything we can to get our kids back to school and back on campus as quickly as we can when we know it's safe for them to do so.”
