Joplin opening 3 new schools in January

JOPLIN, Mo. -- More than 1,300 students who've been attending classes in temporary quarters since Joplin's May 2011 tornado will head to new schools in January.

Ten schools in the Joplin district were destroyed or heavily damaged by the EF-5 tornado that devastated parts of the city and the neighboring town of Duquesne.

The new Irving Elementary School will open Jan. 6 when classes resume after the holiday break. The school will serve students from the old Irving Elementary as well as Emerson Elementary, which also was destroyed.

Joplin School District students from the towns of Duquesne and Duenweg will attend Joplin's new Soaring Heights Elementary. The school will share a kitchen and auditorium with the new East Middle School, which was only 2 years old when the old building was destroyed.