ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

ST. LOUIS — The tornado that devastated homes and businesses across central and northern neighborhoods of the city has also left the first day of school in doubt for an unknown number of families this August.

About 28 St. Louis Public Schools buildings have been evaluated for storm impacts ranging from power outages and downed branches to blown-out windows and severe roof damage, said Square Watson, the district’s chief operations officer.

“We’re still conducting assessments of our buildings, but immediately we responded with our emergency response team where we did board-ups and ... tarped a lot of our roofs just to stabilize our facilities,� Watson told the SLPS board at a meeting Tuesday.

The initial costs are expected to reach up to $1.8 million, Watson said.

Plans were already underway to close under-enrolled schools by fall 2026, but the May 16 tornado may have expedited the process, which includes community meetings scheduled over the next six months.

Nearly 3,400 students, or about 20% of the district’s total enrollment, were relocated to other buildings after the tornado when 12 schools were deemed unsafe for the last week of classes. Superintendent Millicent Borishade and Watson did not respond Wednesday to follow-up questions about the number of families who were also displaced from their homes.

District leaders have said Ashland Elementary in north St. Louis was hit hardest, with much of the roof sheared off. Opening the school by Aug. 18 will take a “miracle,� Borishade said in an interview with KMOV (Channel 4).

The district is gathering proposals for repair work, the superintendent told the school board.

Each of the 12 schools that were closed after the tornado for safety reasons is in a different neighborhood. Most of the elementary buildings are valued between $30 million and $40 million if the district chose to rebuild them. Replacing the two middle schools would cost between $40 million to $50 million. The replacement value of Soldan High is estimated at $163 million and Sumner High at $140 million, according to an .

From the outside, the mostly solid brick school buildings seemed to fare better than their neighboring homes, churches and businesses. Some only experienced power outages that lasted into the next week.

Others with more obvious damage include one of the oldest schools, Soldan High, designed by William B. Ittner in a stately Gothic style. Most of Soldan’s windows along north Union Boulevard were blown out. The roof of the storied Sumner High is covered with a blue tarp. Ashland, Hickey, Washington and Yeatman-Liddell also sustained roof damage.

An unknown number of the district’s 20 vacant school buildings were also damaged, including Turner School in the Ville which is on the market for $497,680 and Euclid School in Fountain Park which is selling for $214,542.

The buildings that were shuttered for the last week of school include:

• Ashland Elementary at 3921 N. Newstead Ave. in the Penrose neighborhood, built in 1906. Enrollment was 198 students in 2024-2025, 44% of building capacity.
• Bryan Hill Elementary at 2128 Gano Ave. in College Hill, built in 1912. The school had 173 students last year, for a 59% building capacity rate.
• Columbia Elementary at 3120 St. Louis Ave. in Jeff-Vander-Lou, built in 1930. The school’s 215 students last year filled 61% of the available classroom space.
• Dewey Elementary, a magnet school for international studies, at 6749 Clayton Ave. in Hi-Pointe. The building opened in 1918 and reached 67% of capacity last year with 337 students.
• Hamilton Elementary built in 1918 at 5819 Westminster Place in Skinker-DeBaliviere. The school’s 243 students last year filled just over half of the building capacity.
• Hickey Elementary built in 1966 at 3111 Cora Ave. in the Greater Ville. The school reached 68% capacity last year with 273 students.
• Pamoja Preparatory Academy opened as Cole School in 1931 at 3935 Enright Ave. in Vandeventer. Its 285 students in preschool through eighth grade last year met 77% of the building’s capacity.
• Washington Montessori, an elementary magnet school at 1130 N. Euclid Ave. in Fountain Park, built in 1956. The school hit 58% capacity last year with 266 students.
• Blewett Middle School in St. Louis Place opened in 1956 and now hosts Innovation Concept Academy alternative school which had 32 students in grades seven through 12. About 11% of the building was used last
• year.
• Yeatman-Liddell Middle School built in 1967 at 4265 Athlone Ave. in the O’Fallon neighborhood. The school has room for 620 students and enrolled 345 last year.
• Soldan International Studies High School built in 1909 at 918 Union Blvd. in Academy. The 338 students last year filled the building to 27% of capacity.
• Sumner High School at 4248 Cottage Ave. in the Ville, built in 1910. The school was designed for 960 students and enrolled 407 last year.