Students due just minutes after storm

The tornado struck Glenfield College and scattered pine trees across a road just minutes before students would have been walking underneath them.

Glenfield College principal Ted Benton said no one was injured at the school but the outcome could have been much worse.

Forty-year-old pines were uprooted in seconds, smashing onto the cars of waiting parents below.

Ravi Naicker was waiting to pick up his two teenage daughters after school, unaware he was waiting in the path of a tornado.

A ridge of trees bordering the school was the worst hit, the wrought iron fences twisted and collapsed.

Although chaotic at times, administrators were calling the first day back a “success.”

Greene Central High School Principal Don Marr said the middle school portion of the day and the transition of students would be the most difficult part of the day.

“So far I think it is going really well,” Marr said. “I guess the proof in the pudding is going to be when we have one group coming into the school and one group leaving.

O'Hara is just one of several students on York College's campus with their guard up a little more than usual. He's reacting to news that two groups of students were robbed at gunpoint, just 15 minutes and a few blocks apart.

At 10 pm Saturday, two students were walking in the commuter lot on West Jackson Street. Three males, including one with a gun, ordered the students to the ground.

Then, the same thing happened to two other students walking in the 300 block of Springettsbury Avenue.

Students were made aware through bulletins, Residential Assistant's and Safety Officers. York College leaders say they do all they can to keep students protected, but something like this is a reminder they aren't immune to the real world just outside their campus.

Since the students will no longer have afternoon classes, many teachers are adding more homework to prepare the students.

Ginn told her class to expect homework on a nightly basis.

As high school students arrived at the school they were sent to the gym to wait for the middle school day to conclude. Administrators said the high school students would start their day in third period — their lunch period — and finish the day in second period.

The tornado went across the tennis courts of the school.

Ms White said no one at the school was injured. Students were kept in their classrooms for about half an hour and school buses were delayed.

Nearby, Albany Junior High School principal Mike Jackson said the tornado hit just as students were leaving school.

"It was a strange way to finish the day really."

He watched from his office window as the tornado, carrying roofing iron, "touched down" twice.