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.
Tornado climatology
On average, the United States experiences 100,000 thunderstorms each year, resulting in more than 1,200 tornadoes and approximately 50 deaths per year. The deadliest U.S. tornado recorded is the 18 March 1925, Tri-State Tornado that swept across southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southern Indiana, killing 695 people. The biggest tornado outbreak on record—with 353 tornadoes over the course of just 3 1/2 days, including four F5 and eleven F4 tornadoes—occurred starting on 25 April 2011 and intensifying on 26 April and especially the record-breaking day of 27 April before ending on 28 April. It is referred to as the 2011 Super Outbreak. Previously, the record was 148 tornadoes, dubbed the 1974 Super Outbreak. Another such significant storm system was the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965, which affected the United States Midwest on 11 April 1965. A series of continuous tornado outbreaks is known as a tornado outbreak sequence, with significant occurrences in May 1917, 1930, 1949, and 2003.