NEWPORT, Tenn. — UPDATE
Newport Grammar School continues to clean up the damage after Thursday's storm.
The Director of Newport City Schools Sandra Burchette opened the door with everything looking different and ready to welcome students soon until she struggled to pass through.
"This is the classroom... I think they've cleaned up a lot of the glass," she said.
On Thursday, high winds blew through and ripped off a portion of their new roof. Everyone went to a safe area and Burchette said about five kids were injured.
"It just flipped over with the guttering and part of the guttering went through the fourth-grade window, shattering it," she said. "[The kids] had minor scrapes and scratches from the glass."
She mentioned there was an immediate effort to check that everyone was okay and assessed the building. But this isn't the first time the school experienced something like this.
"In 2011, we did have a tornado or gust of wind that came through that took off the roof of our gym," Burchette said.
And thanks to the many practice drills the school had, a lot of the kids knew how to respond at that moment.
"They knew exactly where to go," she said.
Besides the room with shattered glass, they also had a handful of other classrooms with water damage. But that didn't take precedence over the safety of the students and staff.
"Lives are important. Buildings can always be replaced," Burchette said.
--
ORIGINAL
Newport Grammar School will be closed Monday due to damage it received from severe storms on Thursday.
According to a spokesperson for Newport Grammar School, strong winds blew off a part of a newly installed roof. A gutter came loose and broke a window in a fourth-grade classroom.
The spokesperson said five students received scrapes and scratches from the glass. Those students were assessed by a school nurse and their parents were contacted.
The damage was in the part of the building that houses the third and fourth grades, with rooms receiving a lot of water damage. The damage is still being assessed.
The classes affected will be moved to other parts of the building until the room becomes usable again.
Classes were canceled Friday. Students will return on Tuesday, January 17.