Transition for Murphy students just days away

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - There are 2,300 displaced high school students that have to be moved in just days. That's the huge task facing Mobile County Public School officials after a Christmas Day tornado devastated Murphy High. On Wednesday, Jan. 2, a meeting will be held to inform parents on the transition. 

2300 STUDENTS DISPLACED

Jan. 2 work was continued on Murphy High School. Looking around it's hard to believe that just before the Christmas break it was a fully functioning school. Now it's a complete mess and students can't wait around for it to be fixed, so they're being moved to Clark-Shaw Magnet School. Officials said it’s a transition of monumental proportions that has to be made in just days.

"You've gone to a school for three and a half years, and you want to finish there, and it's been difficult," Elizabeth Bradley told us.

Elizabeth Bradley's daughter is a senior at Murphy. She will be attending Wednesday night's meeting to get details on the move to Clark-Shaw.

"We want to know how well they are going to have it organized for them and their classes and help them find their way around a whole new school because it's like starting freshman year all over again," Bradley said.

FOCUS ON STUDENTS

Mobile County Superintendent Martha Peek said through this whole process the focus is on the students.

"Our students’ safety and getting them back in school and on schedule is the most important thing," Peek said.

"It's just a real trying time for the children, the uncertainty of everything, and I'm just going to the meeting to see as a parent what I can do to make this transition a little smoother," Yolanda Prince said.

Prince's daughter is also a senior. She told us the move is emotional for her daughter with all the upheaval, but that it's been a life lesson in dealing with a difficult situation.

"We just try to help her accept what has happened," Prince said. "We thank god that all lives were spared because things can be replaced but people cannot."

MEETING WEDNESDAY NIGHT

The informational meeting for Murphy parents and students will be held Wednesday, January 2, at 7 p.m. at the Mobile Civic Center.

For parents that can't make it to that meeting another one will be held Thursday, January 3, 6 p.m. in the gym of Clark-Shaw Magnet.