Though the Southeast has always experienced tornadic weather, the April 27 tornado spurred increased awareness of the importance of weather preparedness at home, work and in the classroom.
Of nine Tuscaloosa County schools, six suffered damage from the tornado and three were destroyed. The Tuscaloosa County School Board is taking precautions to ensure their students will be safe in the future should a similar danger present itself.
Unfortunately for the public school system, the measures come with extreme costs. If the county school system builds one safe room in each of the nine schools, the total cost would be between $1.5 and $2 million.
A federal grant, the Hazard Mitigation Grant, would ensure a majority of the funds to complete the safe rooms. With their good intentions in tow, the school system has recognized the fact that it will need the help of a consulting group to complete the necessary applications for a federal grant.
In recent weeks, the county school board approved a contract with EnCompass360, the consulting group chosen to complete the school system’s application for the grant. The Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, for which will be applied, is a grant allocated for state and local governments located in a federally declared disaster area.
In addition to the county school system’s plans, the Tuscaloosa City School Board has also approved a contract between the school system and the consulting group EnCompass360. The city school system will also apply for the Hazard Mitigation Grant provided by FEMA. The plan would allow each of the twenty-two city schools to have a safe room, a project that is estimated to cost $40 million.
In both cases the grant would provide 75 percent of the cost of the projects while the other 25 percent would have to come from a source other than the federal government. For the city school system, this would mean implementing a 1-cent sales tax, which would then be set aside for the project.
“If the grant is received, it would take several years to complete the construction of safe rooms at all schools, but we consider this a high priority,” said Daniel Meissner, Tuscaloosa City School Board member. “The safety and security of our students, faculty and staff is a critical issue for us and we are very hopeful this grant will be approved.”
With actions being taken by the Tuscaloosa County and City School Systems, the University is also looking into more precautions.
“The safety of our students, faculty and staff is always a priority for the University,” UA spokeswoman Cathy Andreen said. “Numerous basements and safe areas are already available on campus and we are continually reviewing our plans to ensure safe areas as new buildings are constructed.
“Our severe weather guidelines clearly advise students, faculty and staff to move immediately to the lowest level and toward the center of the building away from windows (interior classrooms, offices or corridors) in the event of a tornado warning and remain there until the warning has expired.”
The University’s weather guidelines can be found at uanews.ua.edu/weather
