TYLER, Texas — The recovery efforts in Alto are ongoing but are in need of funding to rebuild the high school.
The high school is on lockdown with the gymnasiums completely gone and the cafeteria is no longer.
"Well everything has moved smoothly," Alto Superintendent Kelly West said. "The teachers and the students have responded well to the new location where they’re having class."
Students at the high school are having to share facilities with middle and elementary school students.
"They’ve been very flexible. I can really credit our principals on that," Superintendent West said. "They and our admin team got together and they looked at the teacher’s schedules to try and figure out you know who needed what period in classrooms. And if a teacher had a conference period then that room would be available for another class. The library, the conference rooms, every office space is being used right now."
The most important thing now is repairing the damage and replacing what was lost.
"Even though we have insurance, not everything is covered under insurance," Superintendent West said. "With depreciation and expenses with rebuilding, everything’s not going to be covered. So we need the state to step in and help us."
The district is working with elected officials to secure more funding from the state. In the meantime, every donation from the community helps.
"Well not just the fact that families and individuals have stepped in to help, but the fact that corporations are stepping up and supporting our local schools and schools that are in need. It means everything," Superintendent West said.
Wednesday afternoon, Whataburger representatives presented the district with a five thousand dollar check. A large amount of the money came from the fast-food chain's "What-a-night", where 20% of the sales from seven area Whataburgers were donated to the school district.
"I'm from Rusk so it's Alto Strong," Whataburger Marketing Director, Shelly Lipe, said. "This is who we are though. It's what we do."
According to Superintendent West, despite the chaos, Alto ISD is still preparing to end the school year full of hope.
"We have a lot of positive things that are going on and those things along with our end of the year celebrations will carry us through," Superintendent West said.