I am heartbroken that our brave and underpaid teachers had nowhere to take these terrified, beautiful children today.
To survive an F4 tornado, you must be underground. It strips the grass right off the ground! It churns everything above ground into rubble.
These noble teachers, whom we trust with our children's safety, had to huddle with them in restrooms and hallways where they tried to cling to walls.
I grew up in Oklahoma. My father and siblings are there. Why do the schools not have underground storm shelters/safe rooms for our precious little ones?
In Oklahoma, storm tracking is a science. They knew the tornado was headed their way. They can pinpoint its path and time of arrival very closely.
Many people in the neighborhood went to their shelters or evacuated out of harm's way.
What were these teachers supposed to do?
It was an F4 in central Oklahoma, where there are more tornadoes per square mile than any place on Earth.
In Moore, Oklahoma, where the fastest ground winds on the planet were recorded in 1999.
They had nowhere to go.
We can do better than this. And do not say it's too expensive or would raise your school taxes. An underground shelter at these schools the size of a couple of McDonalds dining rooms could hold 200 children easily for five minutes until the storm passed.
And even one child's life saved today is priceless.
They had nowhere to go.
These courageous teachers with their children huddled in their arms, knowing the storm was bearing down on them, had nowhere safe to go. Unacceptable.
I will gladly play for any Tornado Alley school that will build storm shelters for our children.
As a father of an 11-year-old, I am horrified and so saddened by today's tragic events.
God Bless Them. They had nowhere to go.
"Jimmy LaFave is one of the greatest ever interpreters of Woody Guthrie. And I don't mean just the songs." ~ Dave Marsh