Moore School Officials Prepare New Homes For Briarwood, Plaza Towers

In two weeks, the new, temporary homes of Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary Schools will be full of children and teachers.

Students from Plaza Towers will use a former junior high school facility next to Moore City Hall. Briarwood students will be just across town at Emmaus Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. At both locations, major prep work is underway.

The desks and supplies at Emmaus Baptist Church are ready to go as even more donations came into the building Friday.

"We've had volunteers from Tuscaloosa, Ala. and Texas and different states have come in," said Pastor Mike Booth with Emmaus Baptist Church.

Teachers at both elementary schools say they are feeling the love.

"We've been getting lots and lots of donations," Briarwood teacher Valerie Singleton said. "We've been blessed."

On Friday, Briarwood teacher Ava Wilhelm told News 9 a teacher from Ada randomly gave her and every teacher at the church $200 checks. The church, just down the road from the destruction path, has enough classrooms to hold the up to 450 students expected.

"It couldn't be laid out any better," Booth said. "It's like we built this for them."

Booth says the school district will pay no rent, just the utilities used. On the other side of I-35, the new home of Plaza Towers was under slight construction two weeks before the first day.

Church and school officials say major planning has gone into the transitions. The city has even created new school zones around the church. Teachers say there have been events where they've seen the children over the summer, but they also say they are looking forward to getting back to a normal routine.