Progress continues in tornado cleanup at Verona school

June EF3 damaged gym, classrooms at Country View Elementary School

VERONA, Wis. — With a little over a month left in summer break, crews are working fast at Country View Elementary School in Verona to repair damage caused by an EF3 tornado on June 17.

“It blew the walls in. It blew the roof off. The roof trusses were caved in,” Superintendent Dean Gorrell said.

A new gym floor is going in, and the area where several classrooms were destroyed is now completely roofed and the walls are going up. The project is on track for the kids’ arrival on Sept. 2.

“We fully anticipate being ready for school Sept. 2,” Gorrell said. “Even a week before, so teachers can move in, and there’s no reason to believe that that we wouldn’t be. When teachers and kids come in, it will look very similar to the way it did, a fresh coat of paint, some new flooring, but it will look very similar.”

New mechanical components are also in place.

“You kind of don’t remember how important a school is to a community and something like this really solidifies that,” Gorrell said.