‘We're going to get through it'; A look into tornado-damaged Neoga schools
NEOGA, Ill. (WCIA) — Students in Neoga were supposed to be back in school on Monday after spring break, but a tornado put their return on pause.
Now, debris, pools of water and bricks sit in the place of students.
Neoga church offers childcare, free meals for kids during school closure
The storm damaged both the elementary and junior-high school buildings. Some areas are no longer safe for students, which is why class is cancelled for the week.
Superintendent Kevin Haarman said he watched the damage unfold on school cameras late Friday night into Saturday morning.
'I saw just devastation in about every camera I had,' he said.
That's when he left his home to see for himself. He didn't realize it standing in the dark, but the roof of the school's ag shop had been completely ripped off.
The next morning, sunlight exposed the extent of the destruction across campus.
'Neoga strong': People ready to rebuild after EF-2 tornado
'When I came in, this [entrance] is one of the first areas that I came into, and this was a mess,' Haarman said.
Plywood now pieces the elementary school together. Some areas of the junior-senior building are off limits due to safety.
'The junior high portion of our building is, I would say, 'gone,'' Haarman said. 'So that's just not possible for us to go back to that area.'
Haarman said, while the damage is devastating to see, the situation is better than it could have been.
'Buildings can be replaced, [but] people can't,' he said. 'I'm just very thankful there were no kids or people in the school at the time, so nobody was injured, nobody was hurt.'
UPDATE: Officials tour Neoga campus after damaging tornado
Haarman said hundreds of people have called the district asking how they can help. Volunteers, including students, have been working alongside crews to rebuild.
'It seems bad now, and it is, but we're going to get through it and we're going to be stronger because of it,' he said.
The plan going forward is to have junior high students move to the elementary building and keep the highschoolers in the least damaged parts of the junior-senior high. That could change as crews keep looking into the damage, however.
Other places in the community have offered up space if that plan isn't possible.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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