Joplin School District
The Joplin School District is located in Jasper and Newton Counties in the City of Joplin, Missouri. It serves more than 7,700 students in the school district.On May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri. In the path of the tornado, Joplin High School, Franklin Technical Center, East Middle School, Irving Elementary, and Emerson Elementary were destroyed; Cecil Floyd Elementary, Duquesne Elementary, Eastmorland Elementary, and Kelsey Norman were damaged as well. In the months after the tornado, plans have been made to rebuild all schools that were destroyed in the tornado. The school district re-opened its Middle and Elementary schools on January 9, 2014; and Joplin High School and Franklin Technical Center re-opened in August 2014.
May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence
The May 1957 Central Plains tornado outbreak sequence was a tornado outbreak sequence that took place across the US Central Plains from May 19 to May 21, 1957. The most destructive tornado of the outbreak was rated at F5, the highest level, and is often called the Ruskin Heights tornado. The worst of the damage occurred in the Ruskin Heights area, a suburb and housing development south of Kansas City, Missouri. 57 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley and 59 people were killed during the outbreak, including 44 in the Ruskin Heights tornado.