PHOTO GALLERY: Joplin residents break ground for new schools

May 22, 2012 | 2:31 p.m. CDT

Joplin residents broke ground Tuesday for new schools, including a new elementary school that will replace and combine two elementary schools destroyed in the May 22, 2011, tornado.

Faculty, staff, students and parents in the Joplin School District break ground Tuesday at the site of the new elementary school that will combine two elementary schools. The two-year project will replace the schools that were destroyed a year ago in the tornado. | Caitlin Jones

Sam Moore, a second-grader at Irving Elementary School, was among the participants at the groundbreaking for a new elementary school. Students were invited to look at the new plans and add their opinions. | Caitlin Jones

Sam Moore, left, a second-grader at Irving Elementary School, digs dirt with his friends Hudson Patterson and Harley Mullican on Tuesday at the site of their new school, which will combine two elementary schools that were destroyed a year ago by the Joplin tornado. | Caitlin Jones