Portage schools call off Friday as tornado cleanup continues
PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — Portage Public Schools will remain closed for the third straight day Friday as the community continues to recover from Tuesday’s tornado.
Though no school buildings were damaged in the EF2 tornado, Portage Public Schools felt the effects of the storm.
“Almost all of our schools lost electricity. There was a major fiberoptic that was actually severed and missing, so that impacted our phone connections and internet accessibility,” Superintendent Mark Bielang said.
‘Thought we were gonna die’: Tornado destroys homes, businesses in Portage area
Those issues combined with what families are going through, caused the district to cancel school through the rest of the week. In a Thursday social media post announcing the Friday closure, the district said crews needed “more time to restore important services to our buildings.”
“Thank you for your patience. Please continue to be safe,” the post added.
Curious Kids and Prime Time are included in the closure.
The EF2 tornado that hit Portage tracked about 11 miles from Texas Corners to Morrow Lake. With winds reaching 135 mph, it tore down trees, sheared roofs off homes and flipped mobile homes east of the city. About 100 families were displaced and there were some minor injuries.
“Our thoughts are with all those families and staff members whose homes were either lost or severely damaged and they’re looking for alternate housing, so definitely that comes into play,” Bielang said. “If we’re able to open buildings because of lack of staff, the impact on our students and the supports that we have to provide them. So we process all of that.”
Inside woodtv.com: Southwest Michigan tornadoes
As of Thursday, Bielang said the district’s power was back on, food service programs could operate and transportation systems were ready to go, but some challenges lingered — like closed streets and phones not working properly.
“We’re ready to go as far as the schools go, but we’re making sure we’re not interfering with the cleanup efforts and getting power restored,” Bielang said.
The school closures happened in the middle of International Baccalaureate and AP testing. The district worked with those agencies to resume testing Thursday and Friday.
“We’re arranging for those students that need transportation to come in, most of those are juniors or seniors, so they can handle that,” Bielang said.
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Bielang said he wants the district to open as soon as possible, but it will happen carefully.
“It’s not totally in our court. The ball is really out there, yet to be played,” Bielang said.
When class resumes, Portage Public Schools will have crisis response teams in place for students that need it.
Bielang added that it’s too early to tell if this week’s closures will cause the school year to be extended, but he hopes to avoid that situation.
The Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the United Way of South Central Michigan have both established disaster relief funds in the wake of the storm. Portage leaders also directed people to the Michigan Volunteer Registry to find out how they can help.
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