RINGGOLD --Students in this north Georgia town already know having a tornado cancel school for 10 days hardly feels like a second spring break.
For junior Zach Shelton, who aspires to the Savannah College of Art and Design, it means less time to work on his grades.
For junior Courtney Hammontree, it means fear of disrupted learning in critical classes, of disrupted activities and athletics this year and maybe next year, too.
For freshman Tanner Hall, it means finishing high school years without a good friend who died along with three other family members when the tornado struck Wednesday.
Hall, 15, lived near both Ringgold High School and Middle School and was close enough to hear the twister crush the latter and extensively damaged the first, closing down both facilities at least for the rest of the year.
At first, he found that idea of no more classes appealing and the Facebook conversation with friends began, "Yeah, we're out of school." Then it took a sober turn when they learned that their friend Chelsea Black would not be returning. First she was missing. Then they learned she had perished and now they've grieving together, commiserating about how to deal with Chelsea's death.
"The whole meaning of being out of school changed," he said Friday. "When we all come back to school, it is going to be a day of silence."
Catoosa County school Superintendent Denia Reese said the district plans for students from Ringgold's Middle and High School to finish out the year at other district schools. The district expects to get a waiver for the missed school time from the state and that students should not lose any credits, Reese said.
"We don't want them to end the school year like this," Reese said. "We want them together and with their teachers."
Reese declined to discuss student deaths, but she said that school administrators would be coordinating grief counselors for returning students for dealing with the stress of a tornado that destroyed so many homes. The middle school may need to be totally rebuilt. The high school needs extensive repairs.
Some students described losing the schools, even temporarily, as like losing their homes.
"I love my school," Hammontree said. "It is going to be a difficult for me the rest of the year. I know that."
The 16-year-old worried that the students recently chosen for Color Guard wouldn't be up to snuff because newbies were losing valuable training time. She also feared a jazz performance in May would be canceled. She had volunteered to serve food.
And she also questioned whether students would be slighted in the classroom. Juniors face a coming year of college admission tests and she is worried by going half-days for the rest of the year. A state learning waiver won't help with that.
"There is still a lot of stuff to teach," she said. "We probably won't be able to do the [chemistry] labs."
Shelton, 16, was helping his grandparents clean out their destroyed home on hard-hit Cherokee Valley Road on Thursday. The artistically inclined student said he is focused -- for now -- on higher education. He is not interested in making a living by manual labor. He hopes to attend SCAD.
"I need to get my grades up," he said. "I'd love to get back in school."
Reese said the district would pull together in terms of academics, extracurriculars and, most importantly, emotional solidarity. Coaches were already re-scheduling missed games and she hoped -- but did not promise -- that the jazz performance would go off as planned.
She acknowledged that next year could also be a challenge. She said Ringgold football games would have to be moved to another school, which could require playing games on Saturdays instead of the usual Friday nights.
Reese said they wouldn't know whether the district would be able to put up trailers at Ringgold Middle next year until she got a report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It is likely they would have to rebuild part of the school, which she noted could take up to two years.
Courtney's mom, Melisa Hammontree, said she was comfortable with the district's approach for handling academics for the rest of the year.
"It is pretty smart group of kids," she said. "And I thought they had already been through enough and its just better if they stay together."
For Hall, the next big decision he has to make is whether to attend the funeral for his friend and his friend's family. He has only attended one funeral before. He didn't like it.
"At first, it was, ‘Yeah, to be out of school,'" he said. "Then everything happened."
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